Dresses line pitch of Kosovo stadium to condemn war rapes

A Kosovo artist hung thousands of dresses from washing lines in Pristina stadium on Friday to condemn the rape of thousands of women during the Balkan wars.

Women from across Kosovo and beyond, including Cherie Blair, wife of former British prime minister Tony Blair, donated dresses for the installation by Kosovo-born artist Alketa Xhafa-Mripa.

Dresses of all colours and cuts blew in the wind, on washing lines that crisscrossed the pitch.

Between 20,000 and 50,000 women are estimated to have suffered sexual attacks during the 1990s Balkans wars.

Inaugurating the exhibition Kosovo's President Atifete Jahjaga said she was "profoundly moved" by the display.
Xhafa-Mripa said the installation, entitled "Thinking of You", was intended as an act of solidarity with the victims and survivors of wartime sexual violence.

Kosovo, which has an ethnic Albanian population, unilaterally proclaimed independence from Serbia in 2008, a decade after a war between Serbian forces and and pro-independence guerrillas.

The war ended after NATO carried out a campaign of airstrikes in Yugoslavia, forcing Belgrade to withdraw its forces from Kosovo.

Rape still goes largely underreported in Kosovan society, where many women fear being ostracised and bringing shame on their families if they report attacks.