Women survivors of war-time violence continue to suffer trauma and other problems. Over the years, Vive Žene has helped thousands of women.  Can you describe some of the women you help?

Through our rehabilitation programs and community work, we have helped over 11,500 women since 1994. We help women with lasting psychological and medical problems resulting from the war: torture and rape, missing family members, detention, and displacement. Other women are victims of domestic violence who encounter abuse within their families on a daily basis. We don’t divide violence experienced during and after the war because they’re interconnected. Most often, domestic violence cases were also affected by the war.

For example, a client named Nezira came to our center in 2007. She was 45 years old with no job and no money. Her husband, an alcoholic, had been psychologically and physically abusive to her since they got married in 1994. One night he came home drunk. He severely beat her and threw her and their three children out of the house. She called the police who referred her to our center. Through the six months she spent in the center, she went through therapy and learned about her legal rights.

When she left six months later, she divorced her husband who was finally prosecuted by the police two years later. We helped her get temporary housing and some cattle. On a small plot of land she acquired, she also started growing some crops to sell in the market and started a small farm. The income she received allowed her to support herself and her children and to eventually build a house. She’s finally been able to turn her life around. Today, she is living free from violence and able to support herself and her children.

What kind of support is available for women survivors of violence?

Survivors of violence don’t receive adequate support from the state, and laws aren’t implemented effectively. Only the most severe cases are actually prosecuted in court. We often hear from women who suffered domestic violence that their friends or family advised them to stay with their abusive husbands. Most victims don’t receive support from their immediate families. In rural communities especially, it’s still shameful to talk about violence against women.

We help the women to acquire leadership skills to take an active role in improving their community. Group members analyze problems and then together, they create plans to solve them, dividing responsibilities among the group. This helps to develop a sense of belonging and trust. We’ve seen increased self-confidence and self-worth among our members.

What prevents women from reporting domestic violence?

Ninety-eight percent of the women we work with are unemployed, which means they are financially dependent on their husbands. And, if a woman goes to court, the process takes a long time, which means she may end up eventually withdrawing her case. There is also weak punishment for the perpetrator, and protective measures such as restraining orders are rarely enforced. This is because judges lack sensitivity and there aren’t enough resources. Courts don’t have the capacity to properly support witnesses so most survivors refuse to testify. More cases are reported now than in the past, but the data’s still not completely accurate since many cases go unreported. We have a lot of work to do to help break the stigma and end discrimination around the issue of violence against women.

On the positive side, women’s NGOs have worked to educate and raise the sensitivity of the police and to make people more aware that domestic violence is in fact a public responsibility.

Vive Žene team in Tuzla raising awareness on torture victims on the International Day in Support of Victims of Torture, June 26, 2011. Photograph courtesy of Senad Cupo.

Vive Žene advocates for victims’ rights. Why is this work important?

Our goal is to contribute to positive systemic changes in society that protect human rights, especially the rights of women who survived wartime rape and torture. We want to ensure that such crimes are not repeated. It’s important that policymakers design laws that adequately respond to the real needs of victims. The consequences of violence shouldn’t be discussed only by professionals who work directly with survivors, but also by policymakers who are ultimately responsible for the overall development of the country. We believe that avoiding an open discussion about what happened during the war can lead to new conflict. It’s important to break the silence and teach people how to deal with the past.

Vive Žene is working on the grassroots level to help bridge the gaps between small, isolated, and ethnically divided communities. How do you work with local communities?

In 2009, we began working in Konjević Polje, a village in the northeastern part of the country.  Before the war, the village was almost entirely comprised of Bosnian Muslims. During the war, it was “ethnically cleansed”—the houses were burned, the village mosque destroyed, many people killed, the survivors expelled. They became internally displaced refugees. Many of them returned to the village in the years after the war.

To get to know the community, we started first to work with children. Then we started therapy groups and helped with legal assistance and medical care. Since then, we’ve seen a lot of positive changes in the people who’ve taken part. Only through wide participation can you achieve significant social change, so we plan on making visits to the neighboring village as well. Last year, through a local women’s organization based in the village, we established a therapy group for women. Ultimately, by working on empowering ethnically divided communities, we hope to establish dialogue and overcome the divisions created during the war.

What are your thoughts on the future of Bosnia and Herzegovina?

Despite all the problems, there have been many positive changes and I am inspired by how Vive Žene has worked to help so many women in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There are a lot of people who are willing to work to improve the country. For me, the most important thing is for people to start taking personal responsibility for themselves and their role in society.  I hope to see improved implementation of laws preventing domestic violence, including better support for victims and state-financed shelters. We also hope to see women victims of wartime rape and torture receive reparations, including psychological support, healthcare, legal aid, and economic compensation. We will continue to push the government to establish a national reparation strategy.

See Vive Žene and Amnesty International's joint campaign “Justice For All: The Women of Bosnia and Herzegovina Are Still Waiting.”

How would you describe the current climate for human rights in Lebanon?

Unfortunately, Lebanon has had an unstable political environment resulting in a negative effect on the social situation. As the confessional divide among the people has become deeper, it has become more difficult for people to join hands and call for improving human rights conditions. Luckily, there has been relative stability in the security situation since the early 1990s, with the end of the civil war. In spite of outbreaks of war and local tensions over the years, as soon as there is relative stability, civil society organizations work to bring human rights issues back to the surface.

And now with revolutions taking place in different Arab countries, the climate of change in Lebanon is becoming more positive. Young people are more and more involved in calling for a secular country that can provide equal citizenship for all, without discrimination based on religion or gender. Civil society is trying to form a coalition of all organizations that have launched advocacy campaigns on specific demands, to gather all these demands and put them in one statement that reflects the NGO view of what they want in a secular country.

What are the major women’s rights issues specifically?

As for women’s issues, some have come to the fore, and major campaigns have been launched, such as the nationality campaigns, giving the Lebanese women the right to pass her nationality to her children and her husband. The Lebanese law does not enable women married to foreigners to pass their nationality on to their husbands or children. This creates a lot of problems, as they are considered foreigners and so deprived of access to public services such as schools and hospitals, not to mention the complications of marriage procedures, or obtaining working permits.

Also, women in Lebanon can face a high level of discrimination embodied explicitly and implicitly within the personal status laws. Lebanon has no civil law to govern family relationships. These are regulated by religious laws belonging to the 18 religious sects which exist in Lebanon—and all discriminate against women.  All these factors hinder women’s participation in decision making, and subject them to violence, without any special legal protection.

Tell me how you first got involved in working as an activist on the issue of violence against women.

I’ve been involved in the fight for women’s rights since the early eighties. I grew up in a traditional, patriarchal community with clear cases of discrimination against women and girls. Since I was a young child, I witnessed the frustration many of my relatives felt when a girl was born. This, in addition to many other examples created my desire to challenge these traditions.

Were there any pivotal moments over the years for you and other activists in Lebanon working on issues of violence against women?

While preparing for the Beijing summit in 1995 (The UN's Fourth World Conference on Women), I had the chance to participate in organizing a public hearing, the first of its kind in the Arab world. These hearings were taking place in different parts of the world, where women victims of different forms of violence presented live testimonies on the violence they had been subjected to, which was ignored by society and treated as “normal” behavior.

The testimonies pushed all those present to delve deeper into the issue of women’s rights, to go to the root causes of those sufferings, like, why is it that men are considered to be superior to women, giving them the right to kill woman in the name of “honor” and to use abuse to keep women under control? The hearing in Beirut was somehow a turning point in the fight against violence against women in the Arab world.

What has happened with activism since that time?

After almost 15 years of struggle, we can say that at least in Lebanon, we’ve succeeded in breaking the silence that has historically surrounded the sufferings of women, and in raising the issue of violence against women as a public concern. We are proud that our struggle during this time has been rewarded by the government approving a law to protect women from family violence, which we are still waiting for the parliament to approve.

Can you tell me more about this new law? What is it you’ve been fighting for and why?

Over the years, we’ve received so many cases of abused women at our Listening and Counseling Center. Through these women, we identified the major gaps and obstacles women face when trying to escape an abusive situation or confront their abuser. It was clear there were no services provided for such women, except very limited ones offered by NGOs, and there were also no special laws dealing with abuse within the family.

In short, violence against women was not a public concern; it was regarded by officials and by society as a private issue that should be confined to the family. Civil society has been fighting for the recognition of this problem and it should be addressed by the Lebanese state. Combined with the realities women experience and the live testimonies of courageous women who are survivors of abuse, civil society organizations have succeeded in presenting the issue of violence against women as a societal problem affecting women from all sects and all social backgrounds. So we needed to call for special legislation to protect women from family violence.

Concretely, how did you achieve this?

With the help of a group of judges, lawyers, and representative from Internal Security Forces, Kafa was able to lay down a draft law, and later discuss it with other NGOs and other stakeholders. A coalition was formed, that Kafa coordinated, which has continually advocated for this law since 2008. Its main objective was to ratify the draft legislation for the protection of women from family violence through a campaign targeting concerned groups, so that the state would uphold its responsibility to protect all its citizens without discrimination. This law will represent a major tool for women and girls to report abuse and claim their right to a decent life.

Why is this legislation so ground-breaking and important?

Approving the law will reflect a political stance of the Lebanese State condemning violence perpetrated against women, considering it a crime. This would represent a major transformation in the way the Lebanese state has been dealing with women’s issues during the past years.

Which issues does the legislation specifically address?

First, it will criminalize all forms of family violence. Its specific objectives are to protect women, ensuring their privacy by initiating specialized units within security and judicial structures, establishing a specialized unit for family violence issues within the Interior Security Forces, securing a protection order for victims, and allowing the woman to lodge a legal complaint against the perpetrator. It means requiring the perpetrator to provide safe housing for the victim and her children, to cover all medical expenses resulting from violence, to pay alimony, and to seek rehabilitation services.

What is happening with this piece of legislation now?

The draft legislation was approved by the cabinet last April and is now with the parliament for discussion and final approval. But the political conflict that started to escalate last summer has affected the legislative role of the parliament. However, just last week, the joint committees of the Parliament resumed meeting and the law was added to the agenda. They decided to form a small committee for further examination. We asked for permission to attend the committee meetings. Meanwhile, we’re trying to meet with members individually.

Do you think it will be passed?

We have paid visits to most of the political parties represented in the Parliament and so far, not one party has declared its opposition to the law. However, the discussions they have will reflect the real position of the parties. In principle, the joint committees gave the small committee three weeks to study the law and get back to them. If approved, it will then pass to the General Assembly for final approval. But this last step should only be a formality.

Can you talk a bit about your recent work to raise the visibility of the prevalence of trafficking in women in Lebanon?

Our first step in raising visibility is to conduct a study of the situation. In recent years, Lebanon has become known as a sex tourism destination despite the fact that prostitution is illegal. Women from Eastern Europe and some other Arab countries enter Lebanon under what is called an “artist visa.” The visa puts women in a position vulnerable to trafficking. The research will help us identify awareness-raising and policy actions needed to increase visibility on the issue and advocate for preventive and protective measures.

In addition to the sex trafficking project, last year, we initiated a project on the situation of migrant domestic workers, looking at the situation of migrant domestic workers, particularly the sponsorship system, and the link to trafficking. Kafa has also submitted a report on migrant domestic workers to the Universal Periodic Review process at the UN , highlighting the vulnerable position in which the sponsorship system places workers.

A lot of people are probably not aware that trafficking exists in the Arab world, or that Lebanon was classified as a “high trafficking country” by the UN Special Rapporteur on Trafficking in Persons. Trafficking has become more and more visible, yet still very few NGOs in Lebanon focus on trafficked women. Why is this?

In Lebanon, trafficking is still a new concept. While Lebanon ratified the Palermo Protocol (the UN Protocol to Prevent, Suppress and Punish Trafficking in Persons, Especially Women and Children), it has yet to pass a law to combat trafficking and provide support for victims, although there is currently a draft law being considered by the government. Kafa recently partnered with other NGOs to provide feedback on it and coordinate activities, and we found that it has several weaknesses, especially in protecting victims.

Despite a growing acknowledgment of trafficking in Lebanon, many decision-makers, the police, judges, and others are still not aware of what trafficking is and how to assist victims. Identification of victims is also difficult and only a few organizations have developed programs specifically focusing on trafficking. Migrant women who enter under the “artist visa” or as domestic workers and who may be victims of trafficking are often sent back to their countries of origin without a thorough investigation to determine whether they have been trafficked.

Additionally, Lebanese women and others who are arrested for prostitution are often charged with a crime and sentenced to prison, and no efforts are made to determine whether they are victims of trafficking or not.

What are some other issues Kafa is working on?

A couple of major issues: one is work on is reforming the personal status codes that represent legal discrimination against women in their status within the family. Lifting Lebanon’s reservations on CEDAW (the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Discrimination Against Women) will also be a major aim of women’s organizations and Kafa will be playing a big role in this regard, starting with a media campaign. Building on our experience with the coalition to protect women from family violence, we will be promoting collaborative work among NGOs to lobby for lifting the reservations.

Journalist, feminist, and human rights defender Rana Husseini is one of the world’s most influential investigative journalists, whose reporting has put violence against women on the public agenda around the world.

The Open Society Institute held a launch for Husseini’s new book, Murder in the Name of Honor. She recently spoke with Marla Swanson of the International Women's Program about the issue of "honor" crimes.

How did you get involved in working on the issue of so-called honor crimes?

It was a story that I came across early in my career.  I was appointed as the crime reporter for The Jordan Times in September 1993 and on June 1, 1994, I read a small story of a girl who was killed by her brother in a poor neighborhood.  When I went to investigate I was shocked to learn more of her story.  She was raped by one of her brothers and he attempted to kill her because she told her family.  She became pregnant, underwent a secret abortion and was married off to a man 34 years her senior.  Six months later, this man divorced her and the day he divorced her, the second brother killed her blaming her for the rape.  When I spoke to the uncles who were part of the plot, they blamed her for the rape and accused her of seducing her brother.

I reported the story and the following day, an influential woman called that newspaper screaming and yelling at my editors that they should stop me from reporting these crimes because this is not us or our society.  So I became even more enraged about it and decided to show her and everyone else that this is our society and we need to work on changing such issues.  Later, I went to the courts and discovered that the killers were getting away with lenient sentences of six months, one year maximum. So I decided to document this as well since no one was really talking about it during that time.

Can you tell us a bit about the book, Murder in the Name of Honor, and what motivated you to write it?

What motivated me was that I needed to tell the stories of these women who were killed.  I had accumulated a lot of experiences and traveled to different places to talk and hear other countries’ and individuals' experience.  So I decided to write a book back in 2000 to be a reference and documentation of these problems.  At that time, there were hardly any books about this issue.  I started writing the book in 2002.  I had prepared an outline in 2000 and started looking for publishers after that.

I also wanted the book to be an advocacy tool for activists in other countries, and at the same time I wanted to document the work that was done in several countries, including Jordan.  I include activism work being done in several countries around the world, including the UK, the US, Europe, Pakistan, Turkey, Palestine and Jordan. I end with a chapter of recommendations of what needs to be done and also to give hope for abused women who think they are alone or cannot seek help.  Finally, by documenting so many stories, I wanted it to be an eye-opener for any women who are living under dangerous circumstances and they do not realize it. I want it to be a sort of warning for women.  At the end of the day, I want to be able to save women’s lives, and that is the most rewarding thing one can achieve in this life.

What are some of the goals for the book and how do you hope it will be used?

In addition to what I said above, I want to be a credible source, raise awareness, give hope to women, give solutions, and document cases and efforts around the world.

What has the response to the book been so far?

I have been receiving positive feedback from people inside and outside Jordan.  People I know and others whom I do not know.  I have been invited to speak at some events and during my UK and US book tour I have been hearing positive feedback from people who are interviewing me or others who come to the event and have already read the book.  So things look good so far.  We will see more reactions when the Arabic edition comes out in a month’s time.

How widespread is the phenomenon of so called honor crimes/killings worldwide?

I believe so-called honor killings happen all over the world and are reported in countries such as Brazil, Greece, Italy and countries such as Turkey and Pakistan to name a few.  So I would say that these crimes are not restricted to any society, religion or nation. The estimates based on UN figures in 2000 are 5,000 killed every year in the world, but unfortunately I think the number is much higher.

What positive changes have you seen over the years as a result of your and others’ push to uncover honor crimes (in Jordan and elsewhere)?

We have witnessed lots of positive changes in Jordan. The issue is no longer taboo and is heavily discussed in the press and among citizens, government officials NGOs and other figures in society.  I can tell you that there has been a major change in the mentality of people in Jordan.  People are now more open to and aware of this issue. Voices that are against these crimes and lenient laws are growing and there is more acceptance towards the work that is done by the government and civil society to end these crimes.  So things are moving in the right direction, but it will take time and it is our duty as good people in society to make change happen. I am a very optimistic person and I believe that we have to always be optimistic to make change happen.

On the legal part, the government now acknowledges the problem and talks about figures and measures that it will adopt to help curb these crimes.  A few years back, the Jordanian government opened the first family reconciliation house that basically aims at helping abused women, their children.  There is a major change in the way the judiciary is handling these cases.  We see harsher penalties than in the past.  Judges have become more aware that they need to hand out stricter punishments against perpetrators of such crimes.  More recently, the Criminal Court announced it was designating a special tribunal to try so-called honor crimes cases and it is expected that they will be applying the law and passing harsher punishments for such murderers.

There are constant political and social activities and awareness campaigns to address this issue, while at the same time bearing in mind that the judiciary is the highest authority in Jordan that should be respected. There is work on some of the laws that offers leniency to killers but no concrete changes were made yet. Internationally, many countries are starting to realize the gravity of so-called honor killings and many have initiated their own campaigns and activities such as Pakistan, Syria, Turkey, Lebanon and Palestine.

Do you think the general public in Jordan and elsewhere has been made more aware of the seriousness of the problem?

Yes.  I can feel that the voices rejecting these crimes are much more than before and especially among men.  Now when I go and lecture I have men who back me up and want to see change.  In the past, they would declare openly that they would kill their sisters if they had to. Things have changed but not 100 percent.

Can you give some examples of any kind of interventions – for example, prevention or response services, policy initiatives, advocacy campaigns, etc. by various actors, you have seen that have been successful in helping to decrease or end the practice?

I think that Jordan's civil society activity in the late 1990s is a good example on how it helped raise awareness and change people's attitudes.  The issue is no longer taboo and people discuss it regularly among themselves, as well as government officials, the leadership and the media.  Even universities are initiating dialogue and drama is being used to tackle this matter.

Do you and other women’s human rights activists working around the issue receive threats intending to stop you from reporting on honor crimes and continuing your activism on the issue? How do you deal with this?

I have received a few emails that asked me to stop reporting about these crimes.  Some women’s NGOs have had some threats as well but no incidents were reported and we hope it remains this way.

What is the long-term impact on the families of the victims after the crime? Have you come across perpetrators who have regretted their crimes against their female relatives?

Of course these crimes do not help or solve the problem as families think.  They actually start new problems and especially for the person who was chosen to kill.  I have met some who regretted killing the female relative they lived with and loved all their lives.  Others were too depressed to talk about it.  I think that some of the killers are also victims because they do not want to kill, but societal and family pressure turns them from normal human beings into killers.

Are there any recommendations you have as a result of your research on this subject?

Yes.  My book ends with a lot of recommendations.  We have to continue to raise awareness, encourage religious and community leaders to speak up against these crimes, encourage women and let them know they are not alone and that they can seek help. We should work on humanizing the victims and telling their stories to the world.  We should work on improving the education system.  Governments should improve their services to victims and more NGOs should be encouraged to do work targeting laws that discriminate against women.

What can an organization like the Open Society Institute do to help end these kinds of women’s human rights violations?

I believe all human rights organizations should constantly address the issue of violence against women in a global manner.  These organizations should not point a finger at a certain country, religion or class and should instead tackle it in a broad manner since violence against women is an international phenomenon and not restricted to a society or religion or class.  The Open Society Institute could also work to support women’s NGOs that are helping women who are victims of abuse or in need of assistance.