As part of the international conference From Gender-Responsive Justice to Sustainable Peace: A Vision for the Next 25 Years, to be held on June 12 and 13, 2025, in Sarajevo, the War Childhood Museum (WCM), in cooperation with the United Nations in Bosnia and Herzegovina, is presenting the exhibition “Speaking Out”. The exhibition was developed entirely in collaboration with women who survived conflict-related sexual violence and children born as a result of that violence.
The exhibition will open on Thursday, June 12, 2025, at the European House of Culture and National Minorities in Sarajevo. It will be open to the public until June 18, 2025, every day from 11 AM to 7 PM.
Personal Testimonies and Body Mapping
As part of the seven-day accompanying cultural and educational program of the conference titled “Women Lead. Peace Follows”, the exhibition “Speaking Out” aims to raise awareness about the experiences and position of survivors and children born of war, and to encourage society to see them as bearers of resilience, knowledge, and strength.
Through personal stories, objects, and video testimonies, the exhibition highlights the everyday challenges these individuals face. Its content is the result of months of documenting experiences and conducting body mapping workshops, during which women used the language of art to convey their life stories.
Survivors’ Perspectives in the Public Space
The opening of the exhibition represents an important step toward greater recognition of the perspectives of women who survived conflict-related sexual violence and children born of war, as well as toward creating space for dialogue, empathy, and justice.
The conference is jointly organized by the Ministry of Human Rights and Refugees of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the United Nations in BiH as part of the initiative “Women Lead on the Path to Peace and Security in Bosnia and Herzegovina”, implemented by UN Women, UNFPA, and IOM with support from the UN Secretary-General’s Peacebuilding Fund (PBF). The organization of the conference is also supported by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Denmark.
