UN to Bosnia: Do more for wartime rape victims

[June 14, 2013]  SARAJEVO, Bosnia-Herzegovina (AP) -- The U.N. is urging authorities in Bosnia to form a truth and reconciliation commission that would make the country face up to the mass rapes that occurred during the 1992-95 war involving Serbs, Croats and Bosniaks.

It also urged Bosnian authorities to give more assistance to wartime rape victims and provide faster and more effective prosecution of their attackers.

Zainab Hawa Bangura, the U.N. special representative on sexual violence in conflict, said Friday in Sarajevo that rape victims in Bosnia deserve better treatment, reparations and a public apology.

She said it was impossible to come up with an exact figure but that the U.N. estimates between 20,000 to 50,000 women were raped during Bosnia's war. Courts so far have processed just a few dozen perpetrators.

[Associated Press]

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.