CEU Electronic Theses and Dissertations, 2014
| Author | Kujundzic, Jana |
|---|---|
| Title | WARTIME SEXUAL VIOLENCE IN CROATIA: SHIFTS IN THE PUBLIC DISCOURSE |
| Summary | This thesis will focus on the issue of wartime sexual violence in Croatia following the recent draft proposal of the new law which will regulate the status of victims of 1990s wartime sexual violence. Two major shifts are identified in the public discourse surrounding the issue of wartime sexual violence since the 1990s. The first one concerns the media reports which still report in a populist and sensationalist way but with a milder focus on the perpetrators as opposed to the media reports in the 1990s. Dubravka Žarkov`s analysis of media reports of sexual violence in Croatian media in the 1990s is presented as a stepping stone for the analysis of the recent time period. The second shift concerns women`s groups and feminist debates in Croatia. Two positionings of Croatian feminists in the 1990s - anti-war, anti-nationalist feminists and nationalist feminists has changed since nationalist feminists have disappeared from the public discourse. Association of Women in the Homeland War which has been a key organization in prompting the legal regulation of victims` status does not claim to be feminist. The law itself presents an important step forward since the legal category of victims of wartime sexual violence is being introduced for the first time. The analysis of relevant media reports shows a divergence from the draft of the new law itself. Furthermore, the law itself raises certain objections; the most controversial issue is the matter of financial benefits since the financial means for this law are not foreseen in the state budget for this year (2014). This paper contributes to the existing literature on the gender, war and nationalism by focusing on the nationalist elements in the public discourse around the issues of wartime sexual violence. It also builds upon feminist legal theories by examining the new law through feminist legal reasoning. |
| Supervisor | Elissa Helms |
| Department | Gender Studies MA |
| Full text | https://www.etd.ceu.edu/2014/kujundzic_jana.pdf |
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