3071-The political economy of new slavery

98 Responses to Sexual Slavery
The increase of gender divisions in post-war BiH can be expressed by
the decline of women’s place in the public sphere, whether it be in the
employment market or local politics, this despite international efforts
to promote gender awareness (Firmo-Fontan, 2000). Within her area of
investigation, located in Canton 10, the author noticed the inequalities
of employment between men and women, prompted by the slow
economy, and itself an expression of the feminization of poverty. Added
to these inequalities are the divisions within the female gender,
prompted by the separation of the women to protect, who have rights,
that is, the Bosnian women, and the new ‘others’, trafficked women
used as commodities. While the international community has been
promoting gender equalities within post-war BiH, the detached attitude
of international staff with regards to sexual slavery, in the same manner
as that of local individuals, illustrates a general failure to understand
peace beyond the cessation of armed violence, as well as to conceptualize
structural violence as the prime dynamic hindering the growth of a
‘decent society’, whereby the institutionalization of equality stems from
the cultural, the legislative, the economic and the political. The international
failure to bring sustainable peace to BiH can be explained by
the fact that it has encouraged short-term centralized reconstruction
initiatives to the detriment of sustainable development tailored to suit
specific circumstances while evolving in a multitrack setting, that is
bottom-up and top-down post-conflict rehabilitation (Firmo-Fontan,
2003b). The author’s experience as a democratization officer for the
OSCE was symptomatic of the aforementioned trend. Indeed, as she was
asked to act within the remit of the mandate that was set for her by
the OSCE Head Office in Sarajevo, she was unable to suit the needs
of her community specifically. This discrepancy between the field and
the think-tank finds its most acute expression in the international
community’s approach to sexual slavery. As a matter of fact, for other
internationals who do not use the services of a brothel as such, the issue
becomes all too familiar and sometimes trivialized. In some instances
the issue has become ‘normalized’. The first official meeting that the
author (in her capacity with the OSCE) had with the mayor of Grahovo,
Mr Slobodan Sabljic, was held in the restaurant of the local brothel,
with official representatives of the UNHCR and the Bosnian-Croat
Federation government. Upon enquiry, she was told that the only two
sex workers present were there of their own free will. One of them was
serving during the meal. A subsequent informal interview with one of
the women showed that she was from Ukraine and had to sell sex as a
way to repay her pimp for buying her at the local auction. The premises