Remembering children of war in Bosnia

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Although memories of the violent legacy of the Bosnian war live on, survivors of sexual violence and their children are finding healing and care. Forgotten Children of War (ZDR) is a unique organisation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), formed in 2015, which advocates for a group that society has historically made invisible: children born of the Bosnian war and their mothers.

‘Children born of war’ are children whose mothers survived conflict-related sexual violence during the 1993-95 war, or children of peacekeepers and humanitarian aid workers who left the country after the war. ZDR is the first organisation of its kind in the world.

“We have two main goals,” says ZDR’s president, Ajna Jusić, “first, to raise awareness in society about children born as a consequence of sexual violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina. Second, to ensure the legal visibility of these children within the legal framework of Bosnia and Herzegovina and, eventually, legal visibility for children born out of war acts globally.”

In BiH, children born of war are often called the “hidden population”, due to the stigma and discrimination that they face. With a combination of educational, artistic, advocacy, and lobbying projects, ZDR seeks to make them more visible.

ZDR has successfully helped change regulations in BiH, which previously required people to enter their father’s name in all administrative procedures. For children of war, this made regular procedures a traumatic process, as their fathers are usually unknown, and they did not want to have to explain why they didn’t enter a father’s name. Thanks to the efforts of ZDR, the government changed the rules, and it is now possible to input mothers’ names.

Art plays a core role in ZDR’s work, which it describes as ‘the noblest tool in the fight against nonsense’. It deploys photography, film, and performance as tactics to raise awareness about sexual violence. ZDR’s efforts include a photography exhibition called ‘Breaking Free’, which sought to raise awareness about the stigma and the discrimination that many children born of war experience. In 2023, its ‘Speaking Out’ exhibition, which featured artwork co-produced with female survivors of wartime sexual violence and children born of war, documented the camps where rape and torture were inflicted on women during the war.

Ajna’s own words featured in the exhibition: “My whole life was marked by the name of the person who harmed my mother…I carried the burden of a society that did not have the courage to look in the mirror.”

By nature, ZDR’s work is traumatic, but the organisation’s community is a powerful source of healing for those involved. As one woman involved in ZDR’s programmes said, “All survivors of wartime sexual violence should know, above all, that they are not alone. They must never give up or lose hope in their struggle.”

Oak supports ZDR through our Issues Affecting Women Programme, which supports women’s organisations in the Balkans in their work to help change behaviour and attitudes to prevent violence. If you want to know more about ZDR, check out its website here.