Baroness Goudie (Lab)

My Lords, I thank the noble Baroness, Lady Helic, for securing this important debate. Her continued leadership on Bosnia and Herzegovina, genocide prevention and the defence of the women, peace and security agenda around the world is of the utmost importance given the state of the world today and the number of conflicts that we hear about daily. Discussions such as the one before us today show our commitment to ensuring that the lessons of Bosnia are never treated as mere history. We have a continued responsibility to the legacy of the people of Bosnia who lost their lives and to the families and communities who are still living with the consequences of the 1992-95 war. What happened in Bosnia-Herzegovina matters deeply to Europe. More than 100,000 lives were lost. In July 1995, between 7,000 and 8,000 Muslim men and boys were murdered at Srebrenica and Žepa, in an atrocious event that was rightly recognised as genocide. This trauma has left enduring scars. We must reject genocide denial, further division and political intimidation where it shows its head, especially in a space where remembrance and accountability are so important—not just for the women, children and families who live with the deep consequences of the war but for the status of international law and its capacity to protect the vulnerable. The Government continue to support Bosnia-Herzegovina’s sovereignty and the Dayton peace agreement, which I welcome gladly. I also welcome our continued support for the Office of the High Representative in the face of international challenges that threaten its stability. As outgoing High Representative Christian Schmidt assessed, the situation in Bosnia is “stable but fragile”. Obstructions to the court and state institutions threaten this stability and reduce the confidence of the Bosnian people in the country’s future and security. For me, women, peace and security must be central to our conversations on Bosnia, given the terrible use of sexual violence as a weapon of war in the very recent past. An estimated 20,000 women and girls were subjected to sexual violence during the conflict. This proves that, to rebuild a safe and inclusive society, women must be at the centre of Bosnia’s future. Women currently make up only 19% of the members of the lower chamber of the parliamentary assembly. This is not simply a question of representation; it is a question of democracy. Inclusive institutions are stronger institutions. Women peacebuilders, society leaders and human rights defenders are often the first to see the warning signs of division, fear and exclusion.