Sekulović of the Helsinki Board: The myth of the rape of Serbian women in Kosovo is a dangerous pseudo-event

Aleksandar Sekulović, associate of the Helsinki Committee for Human Rights in Serbia and vice president of the Anti-Fascist Association of Serbia, calls the Serbian narrative about the alleged rape of Serbian women in Kosovo a pseudo-event and dangerous.

In one of his articles, Sekulović wrote that these reports do not contribute to the truth, reconciliation or the well-being of the Serbian community in Kosovo.

“The narrative of rape and sexual abuse of Serbian women that this organization wants to revive represents a classic pseudo-event from which the Serbian community will gain nothing good,” Sekulović said.

He added that a policy based on ethnic hatred and originating in political circles in Belgrade does not help the Serbian community in Kosovo. In his view, progress must be based on cooperation between the communities and building trust.

“The Serbian community in Kosovo should establish organizations that build contacts and cooperation with similar Albanian organizations and create conditions for a better life for all through dialogue,” he added.

https://www.helsinki.org.rs/serbian/aktuelnosti_t665.html?fbclid=IwY2xjawKRWrVleHRuA2FlbQIxMQBicmlkETE2Y0c3MmdhNmFMbFFLQzdwAR5HcrJU2tx2x_SKk989_cJw4sAsVV-0jtofoZikqpKFgchvC5GZqiwQNGIKMw_aem_fQq6TsEZy6gseSIVslFm3w

Full text by Aleksandar Sekulović:

It is unusual that Danas pays attention to a phantom organization from the northern part of Mitrovica in Kosovo called “Serbian Democracy”, which was apparently founded with the task of giving the extremist Serbian List with its ultra-extremist positions the opportunity to present itself as a moderate and reasonable option.

The most recent action of this organization is the creation of a kind of Serbian guard whose task is to protect Serbian women from alleged sexual abuse by Albanians.

The story of rape and other sexual assaults suffered by Serbian women and girls in Kosovo has a long history and has found its place in the book “History of Serbia” by renowned author Holm Sundhausen. In fact, the myth about the rape of Serbian women in Kosovo began to spread in the late 1980s, when Serbian nationalism dominated the Serbian political scene. And then Vuk Drašković, to be fashionable, spread the false report in his novel “The Russian Consul” that 3,743 Serbian girls and women had been raped by the end of the Second World War. The sociological studies that showed, for example, that there had not been a single case of “interethnic” rape in Kosovo since 1987, just as there had not been before, were worthless. Nevertheless, the complaints and dramatic demands from Serbian circles were constantly increasing. Correspondent Viktor Mayer, whom Zundhausen quotes, described what this looked like in practice:

Interrogations in the Serbian villages of Kosovo proceeded … almost stereotypically as follows: First you heard endless tirades about rape, robbery, damage to property, assault and the like; then regularly about the University of Pristina as a hotbed and source of evil. When asked whether such things had ever happened anywhere, one rarely received such an answer. One should not expect them to actually happen.

Therefore, the story of rape and sexual abuse of Serbian women, which the above-mentioned organization wants to revive, represents a classic pseudo-event from which nothing good will come for the Serbian community. Instead of following Belgrade’s policy based on ethnic hatred and a siege mentality aimed at making the rapes “really happen”, the Serbian community in Kosovo should establish organizations that build contacts and cooperation with similar Albanian organizations and create conditions for a better life for all in the area through dialogue./The Geopost/