Kosovo/Kosova As Seen, As Told went to the doctor [because] I was bleeding. After the examination he proposed an 3 abortion because the baby was completely destroyed. After two days I had an abortion. Gang rape by paramilitaries. The following case of gang rape that took place in November 1998 follows the same pattern as was frequent during the period March-June 1999. A mother described how her 13year-old daughter was raped by five paramilitaries. On 16 November police and VJ surrounded us in the village and immediately divided men from women. The women were sent to the village school. The VJ and police were kissing and hugging us and they would abuse us verbally saying things like "Now you will see how Serbs fuck", and "From now on you will have Serb babies in your stomachs". At 18:00 paramilitaries, I think they were White Eagles, arrived. They chose the 20 most beautiful young women [including the interviewee's 13-year-old daughter; the others were aged from 17 to 38] and took them to a location about 20 metres away from us. From 18:00 to 23:00 they were kept. We heard how the girls screamed and shouted. The [women] were left in the mountains and we went to pick up our [women]. At 23:00 hours the paramilitaries left and we went over to pick up the women [they had been scattered in different directions]. I found my daughter bleeding and traumatized, she could not speak until the day after. I found a needle sticking in her arm, which was bruised. All 20 women were in the same state. This interviewee recounted that one of the women who had been raped had told her afterwards what the paramilitaries had done to them, as follows: "When we were sent to the mountains they first kissed and hugged us, then took off our clothes by force. Four or five men raped every [woman]. They did not give drugs first, but after the second person that raped us. After they drugged us, we weren't aware of anything any more." 4 Incidents after 20 March In the statements that the OSCE-KVM human rights officers collected in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia and Albania there are many reports by eyewitnesses to, and also by a number of victims of, rape and other forms of sexual violence. It is, however, still too early to draw any firm conclusions as to how widespread this was, and how many women were victims of rape and other kind of sexual violence. Further investigations will be needed as the time passes and women become prepared to talk about what happened to them. Situations where women were raped It is fair to say that Kosovo Albanian women were at risk of being raped in almost all situations and locations in Kosovo during the conflict. It did not matter whether they were by themselves or if they still http://www.osce.org/kosovo/documents/reports/hr/part1/ch7.htm (4 of 17)12/5/2003 11:51:55 AM