The Acting President of the Republic of Kosovo and Speaker of Parliament, Albulena Haxhiu, at the solemn session of the Assembly of Kosovo, where the Memorial Day for Survivors of War Sexual Violence "Return My Light" is being marked, said that few crimes affect human beings as much as sexual violence.
She stressed that Serbia has committed crimes against Kosovo Albanians. According to her, over 20 women faced sexual violence during the war. She also added that Serbia continues to serve as a haven for war criminals.
"We just lit a candle in the hall of the Assembly of the Republic of Kosovo, a symbolism that is simple in appearance, but profound in meaning. As Martin Luther King would say, darkness cannot drive out darkness. Only light can do that. So today when we say bring back the light, we are talking about the light that we owe to the truth, about the dignity that was tried to trample on and about the life that was cut in two. Few crimes strike human beings with as much cruelty as sexual violence in war. Because through it, human dignity itself is attacked," she said.
According to her, sexual violence as one of the most cruel means of war is not a recent phenomenon or a random expression of human brutality. It is deeply rooted in the history of wars as a recurring form of social subjugation and destruction.
"Even when it was legally named, it remained for a long time locked in social silence. Shame was placed on the victims, while the crime was moved to the periphery of collective memory. In Kosovo, this brutal and cruel tool was exercised by the Serbian state apparatus, and by its military, police and paramilitary structures as part of an organized campaign of terror against the Albanian civilian population. And this must be said clearly, it was part of a mechanism of violence that aimed to humiliate, subjugate and shake the foundations of our society," she said.
Otherwise, members of the Kosovo Assembly have lit candles as a sign of resistance, memory and hope for the victims of sexual violence in the recent war in Kosovo.
