Helping or harming? NGOs and victims/-survivors of conflict-related sexual violence in Bosnia-Herzegovina

Dados Bibliográficos

ID5837795
AutoresJanine Natalya Clark (0000-0002-4060-4082, ,, autor correspondente)
Ano2019
Volume18
Fascículo2
Páginas246-265
Data de publicação2019-03-15
Peer ReviewedSim
Open AccessNão
TipoARTICLE
PeriódicoJournal of Human Rights (JOURNAL)
Identificadores do periódicoISSN: 1475-4835 • E-ISSN: 1475-4843
EditoraTaylor & Francis (PUBLISHER • GB)
DOI10.1080/14754835.2019.1581055
OpenAlexW2930483144
IdiomaEN
Citações recebidas4
Referências citadas80

Drawing on the author's previous and current fieldwork in Bosnia-Herzegovina (BiH) and interactions with several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), this article asks whether some organizations that seek to help and support victims/-survivors of conflict-related sexual violence are potentially doing more harm than good. In developing this argument, the article's aim is neither to unjustly criticize NGOs nor to trivialize the challenges that victims/-survivors face. What it seeks to demonstrate, however, is that a heavy focus on the thematic of trauma can be counter-productive. Specifically, it critiques trauma as a disempowering, essentializing and collectivizing discourse. Calling for a meta discursive shift away from trauma and towards resilience, it argues that NGOs should give more attention to the families and communities of victims/-survivors. Families and communities, in this regard, constitute potential resilience resources that should be harnessed and strengthened

Argument (complex analysis · Sexual violence · Thematic analysis · Gender, Security, and Conflict · Historical and Contemporary Political Dynamics · Peacebuilding and International Security