The BalkansThis entry reviews sexual abuse of children in
centralBalkan countries and territories (Slovenia,
Croatia, Bosnia-Herzegovina, Serbia, Kosovo,
Montenegro, Macedonia, and Vojvodina), where
different Muslim ethnic groups live as a majority
or a minority, and mostly as indigenous peoples
(Roma, Bosniaks, Albanians, Turks, and others).
At the end of Ottoman rule, Sharì≠a courts were
transformed from courts of general jurisdiction
into special courts whose jurisdiction was reduced
to the issues of family and succession law, and
issues related to endowments. The Austro-Hunga-
rian Empire took over these courts and the estab-
lishment of the Kingdom of Serbs, Croats, and
Slovenes did not change the position of Sharì≠a
courts significantly. After the Second World War,
a law was passed disbanding Sharì≠a courts in
the People’s Republic of Bosnia-Herzegovina. That
was the end of Sharì≠a law as part of the applic-
able law, but its norms had a major influence on
the morals and customs of Muslims in Bosnia-
Herzegovina.
According to the Qur±àn and the traditions of the
Prophet, incest and other forms of sexual abuse are
mortal sins. They threaten all three levels of human
dignity: soul (God inspired human being with His
spirit); body (human beings are created in the most
beautiful uprightness); and sociability (a general
alliance of all human beings with God). This atti-
tude, based on spiritual tradition, pervades Muslim
culture. However, the only comprehensive legal
sanctioning against such crimes has been achieved
with the current application of secular criminal laws.
Incomplete research on sexual abuse in Mace-
donia, Serbia, Montenegro, Croatia, Kosovo, Vojvo-
dina, and Bosnia-Herzegovina, while they were
federal units of the former Yugoslavia, confirms
that this issue was mainly absent from courts. The
phenomenon was, as a rule, considered taboo, and
both victims and witnesses avoided reporting them
to the police and courts. Although crimes of sexual
abuse were considered the worst violations of indi-
vidual and collective dignity, publicizing them would
permanently stigmatize the victim and his or her
family. Records of Sharì≠a courts in Bosnia-Herze-
govina cover various crimes, but a sample of
Sexual Abuse: Children
records revealed no court case regarding sexual
abuse of children between the sixteenth and nine-
teenth centuries. New legislation concerning sexual
abuse of children has had broad popular support.
Sexual abuse is defined in the criminal legislation
of Bosnia-Herzegovina (in the Criminal Codes of
the Federation of Bosnia-Herzegovina and the
Republic of Srpska), Serbia, Montenegro, and
Croatia. Crimes of sexual abuse of children were
included in those laws in the first years of the
twenty-first century as a result of a worldwide
debate on these issues. Description of the crime of
sexual abuse is now more detailed than was the
case in legislation after the Second World War and
earlier. The criminal legislation of Bosnia-Herze-
govina includes sexual abuse of children in the
group of crimes against sexual freedom and moral-
ity. Sexual abuse of children includes rape, sexual
intercourse by abuse of office, sexual intercourse
with a child, fornication, sexual act in front of a
child or a minor, forcible prostitution, using a child
or minor for pornographic purposes, introducing a
child to pornography, and incest. There are no sig-
nificant differences in the crimes defined as sexual
violence in the criminal legislation of Bosnia-Her-
zegovina, Serbia, Montenegro, and Croatia.
According to statistical data of the ministry of
the interior in Bosnia-Herzegovina, 208 criminal
reports on sexual abuse of children were filed
between 1997 and 2002. Perpetrators were 15 to
85 years of age. Victims of violence were, as a rule,
girls aged 3 to 18. According to the Helsinki
Committee for Human Rights in Bosnia-
Herzegovina, 16 percent of all abuse is sexual
abuse. These data include all ethnic communities in
Bosnia-Herzegovina (Serbs/Orthodox Christians,
Croats/Roman Catholics, Bosnians/Muslims, and
others). There are no data regarding distribution of
these crimes among different ethnic populations.
During the systematic rape of Bosnian Muslim
women in the 1992–6 war against Bosnia-
Herzegovina, many cases of rape of underage girls
were recorded. In some Serb prisons, such as Foåa,
Muslim girls were kept and systematically raped.
According to public sources, 100 cases of sexual
abuse of children were registered in Croatia between
1996 and 1999. Fifty percent of the cases happened
within the home, and 35 percent of perpetrators