Global Security: Through a Bosnian Lens
USIP, in collaboration with the Institute for Inclusive Security, USAID, and Vital Voices, hosted a discussion with Ambassador Swanee Hunt and USAID’s Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg on lessons emerging from the Bosnia conflict with a particular focus on the best ways to ensure a direct role for women in peacebuilding efforts worldwide. In addition, film producer Abigail Disney and film director Pamela Hogan presented their PBS documentary, “I Came to Testify,” that describes how a group of 16 women from Bosnia, victims of the war’s systematic rapes, broke through political and societal silence by stepping onto the witness stand at an international tribunal.
What can we learn about global security nearly two decades after the hugely destructive violence of the Bosnian War? Despite the end of the armed conflict in 1995, Bosnia is still described as a country in “a perpetual state of crisis.” Few easy answers exist on how to bridge the political divide, which is wider today than it was before the war.
USIP, in collaboration with the Institute for Inclusive Security, USAID, and Vital Voices, hosted a discussion with Ambassador Swanee Hunt and USAID’s Deputy Administrator Donald Steinberg on lessons emerging from the Bosnia conflict with a particular focus on the best ways to ensure a direct role for women in peace-building efforts worldwide. In her new book “Worlds Apart,” Ambassador Swanee Hunt draws from 17 years of work in the Balkans, particularly the gap between citizens living out the war and ‘the internationals” deciding whether and/or how to intervene. From these stories, Hunt draws six lessons applicable to conflicts throughout the world.
In addition, film producer Abigail Disney and film director Pamela Hogan presented their PBS documentary, “I Came to Testify,” that describes how a group of 16 women from Bosnia, victims of the war’s systematic rapes, broke through political and societal silence by stepping onto the witness stand at an international tribunal. A panel discussion will follow.
Speakers Include:
- Ambassador Swanee Hunt
President, Hunt Alternatives Fund; Chair, The Institute for Inclusive Security;
Eleanor Roosevelt Lecturer in Public Policy, Harvard Kennedy School of Government - Donald Steinberg
Deputy Administrator, U.S. Agency for International Development - Congressman Russ Carnahan (MO-3)
- Congresswoman Eddie Bernice Johnson (TX-30)
- Abigail Disney
Producer of the film, "I Came to Testify" - Pamela Hogan
Director of the film, "I Came to Testify" - Mirsad "Miki" Jacevic
Chief Training Officer, Institute for Inclusive Security - Dr. Richard H. Solomon, Welcome
President, U.S. Institute of Peace - Kathleen Kuehnast, Moderator
Director, Gender and Peacebuilding Center, U.S. Institute of Peace
Explore Further
- Learn more about USIP's Gender and Peacebuilding Center
- Learn more about Ambassador Hunt's book, "Worlds Apart"
- Learn more about the "WOMEN, WAR, & PEACE" series on PBS
- Learn more about Fork Films and other documentaries produced by Abigail Disney
- Follow the conversation on Twitter with #SecurityLessons
