Analysing the situation of human rights in areas of conflict requires,
especially when we want to speak about vulnerable groups, constant confrontation with
the past. In this chapter, we address briefly the relationship between women and war in
the former Yugoslavia. Our aim will be to understand the itinerary of women’s human
rights in society from the times previous to the war until the moment when law and
justice seem to be ready to act, in times of peace. One important element to understand
where human rights stay for women in the post conflict processes of transitional justice
is to see how law builds which acts are actually crimes.
Keywords: Armed conflict, Ethnic violence, Former Yugoslavia, Transitional
justice, Women’s rights.
