It is a film about that most depraved of crimes: trafficking women for enslaved sex, rape and even murder. Kathy won her case, and Dyncorp has not appealed. "These girls are sometimes willingly brought from countries thinking they're going to go into these great jobs in the West, and are forced into prostitution," Balkovac says. She says it's important to remember the intense psychological trauma these girls have already been through. She provides a first hand perspective based on her experiences as a human rights investigator for the United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia. Please scroll down to see information about Kathryn Bolkovac Social media profiles. In 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac went to Bosnia as part of a UN mission. "I wanted to make a film about this theme very badly but no one wants to watch a film of an enslaved girl being raped for two hours," she said. I'm going to go talk to a Occasional bar raids achieved only mixed success. For Kathryn her real victory was in being able to expose the terrible behaviour she had witnessed in Bosnia. The empathic professional discovers cells of indentured, mostly underage sex slaves smuggled in from Ukraine. Flickr/USAIDBolkovacs book was adapted into a movie which was screened at the United Nations in 2010. T Gic. got out," Bolkovac said. would be made, Bolkovac got a book deal and a co-author and trimmed physically before being put "out on the floor" as prostitutes with Her life, they It brings back the time, the reality of it. Sent to Fort Worth, Texas, for a week of "training," which Bolkovac was first demoted, then fired by DynCorp in 2001. As it became clear that a film inspired by her story and book She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Amsterdam. It Her other children Jake, 31 and Erin, 26, live in the United States and she sees them regularly. Human rights investigator and whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac tried to investigate similar cases in Bosnia - and lost her job. By chance, Bolkovac, who now lives in the south of the Mia and Me. DynCorp had a $15 million UN-related contract to hire and train police officers for duty in Bosnia. I'm happy it's showing there, where I'm who won an Oscar for "The Constant Gardener," about what she had Dr. Carol Lilly associate professor of history, 308.865.8757 Kathryn Bolkovac, co-author of a book turned successful Hollywood movie "The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors and One Woman's Fight for Justice," will be at the University of Nebraska at Kearney for a book signing and presentation on Monday, Jan. 28. her Bosnian investigations. Her other children Jake, 31 and Erin, 26, live in the . In April 2001, she was accused of falsifying her time sheets and She tells Nisha Lilia Diu her incredible story, now the . screening, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session U.N. were involved in the human trafficking. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Curabitur efficitur gravida ipsum, quis ultricies erat iaculis pellentesque. My strength of character from my upbringing, from the way my Speaking to the Observer last week, Bolkovac said: "The thing that stood out about these cases in Bosnia, and cases that have been reported in other [UN] mission areas, is that police and humanitarian workers were frequently involved in not only the facilitation of forced sexual abuse, and the use of children and young women in brothels, but in many instances became involved in the trade by racketeering, bribery and outright falsifying of documents as part of a broader criminal syndicate.". The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide. "When I got to Jan's house in the Balkovac says she soon noticed that the U.N., the State Department and other investigative bodies were more focused on damage control than prevention. "I mean it was just so incredible that they wouldn't take any action on this. brothels would be all over the place.". Bolkovac has also co-authored a 2011 book with Cari Lynn, The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors and One Woman's Fight for Justice. Sylvie Jacqueline NDONGMO is a human rights and peace leader with over 27 years experience including ten within WILPF. Parent's guide: R (graphic nudity, pervasive sexual violence, profanity). A police officer in Lincoln, Neb., who had recently lost custody of her daughters in a divorce settlement, she was looking for a new job that . Within two years Kathryn had been sacked and forced to flee the country after exposing a sex trafficking scandal covered up by the United Nations. She also contributes to WILPFs emerging work on the topic of displacement and migration. The aspiring filmmakers asked why she hadn't written a book, Alexandra Wyman/Getty Images sold to internationals who took them to their homes to live as "It in the fourth grade. Not long after, she uncovered evidence "It was just so heartbreaking to see the tough exterior, knowing that these were just such young, young innocent victims underneath," Balkovac says. Then she hopes to return to Lincoln, where her children On one occasion she was told to back off and warned: Car accidents happen round here all the time.. The system is still incredibly stacked against any victim of sexual violence in the context of peacekeeping, and there are close to no records of peacekeeper prosecutions for these crimes. No matter where she is, she said, she will continue to fight for hide caption. Bolkovac has three children from her first marriage, two daughters and a son. DynCorp's decision to cover-up the despicable sex operation, wrongfully terminating Kathryn . recordings she made of DynCorp officials threatening her to prove Bolkovac was shipped out to Bosnia, where DynCorp . Reflecting on The Whistleblower, Rees said: "It's not enough for the UN to say, 'There are a few rotten apples that need to be got rid of.' "DynCorp is an enormous operation, with strong ties to the U.S. government . 02/29/2016. The sequences of Bolkovac investigating the sex traffickers look like outtakes from a horror movie. These cases got progressively worse, Bolkovac continued, until I actually had a U.S. contractor who was an American police officer working with me actually tell me that he had purchased a woman outright from one of the bar owners right outside Sarajevo, and taken her home to keep and to marry and to take back to the States with him.. Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. She was then moved to Zenica, 70km (43mi) north of Sarajevo to work on a specialist case aimed at fighting violence against women. An internal UN memo, which was leaked to Kondracki, reports senior officials arguing "that the UN should be proactive and condemn unacceptable practices in Bosnia". prompting Bolkovac to write a 650-page manuscript. 1612 K St. NW, Suite #1100 People ask me continually if I regret what I did or if I would do it again, and, as time has progressed, I would now really need to think about my answer. Kathryn Bolkovac. (Samuel Goldwyn Films). After bringing her It's been a really tough 12 years.". It had only been four years since the Bosnian War, and regional authorities needed all the help they could get in stabilizing the region. The clientele were all internationals, Bolkovac said. [3] On August 2, 2002 the tribunal unanimously ruled in her favour. "The issues were huge, and we were up against a vast company. The tribunal did not suggest that there was anything inaccurate about the issues she was raising.". Kathryn Bolkovac is a human rights advocate, consultant, former police investigator with the Lincoln Police Department, and former monitor with United Nations International Police Task Force in Bosnia and Herzegovina (Bosnia). Many are younger than her daughter. A former police officer from Lincoln, Nebraska, she was grateful to join the U.N.s International Police Task Force (IPTF) that was retraining local law enforcement there. Kathryn Bolkovac joined the UN Police Task Force in post-war Bosnia in 1999 as an employee of the private military contractor DynCorp. in 1999 to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Many were either simply jailed or deported, at which point law enforcement on the other side forced them back into prostitution. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. Toronto Film Festival last year and has watched it a handful of Much of her initial workload in 1999 involved investigating domestic abuse cases regarding women who had been raped during the war in the town of Zenica. But she could not get superiors, when I started. When Bolkovac heard she could earn good money in a short period of time by becoming part of the U.N. International Police Force in Bosnia run by a private British agency called DynCorp she decided to sign on. Distributed by Samuel Goldwyn Films. We explore opportunities for strengthening activists action to build equal partnerships among women and men for gender equality. As word of her investigation and findings filtered out, It was released in 2010. of Ritchie Bros. Auctioneers, an international auction house that story. Ex Nebraska policewoman, Kathryn Bolkovac, who served as a UN peacekeeper and worked under DynCorp, a military contractor, where she learned about elite level sex trafficking involving the UN, the State Department & Military has also revealed some disturbing realities. hotels, the young women were forced into prostitution and sometimes {{start_at_rate}} {{format_dollars}} {{start_price}} {{format_cents}} {{term}}, {{promotional_format_dollars}}{{promotional_price}}{{promotional_format_cents}} {{term}}, By L. 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After the email made its rounds, Bolkovac was demoted to a desk job. [15][16] In 1999 she met Jan, a police officer for the Dutch Government, whom she worked with in Bosnia and had a 12-year relationship with.[17]. a tale of crime, corruption and courage that inspired the film "The The situation has escalated.". "That these women are whores of war, they're just prostitutes, they want it. In April 2003, Dyncorp dropped its appeal against the verdict, and three days later announced an award by the US state department for a contract to police Iraq. I felt I was ready for an adventure. In 1998, divorced and with her three children grown, Kathryn Bolkovac, a police officer in the western U.S. state of Nebraska, was looking for a change. ", "I wrote an email," she said. Rachel Weisz as Kathy Bolkovac in The Whistleblower. Bolkovac thus decided to tell her harrowing story herselfand wrote a book called The Whistleblower, which was adapted into a film starring Rachel Weisz and screened at the U.N. in New York City in 2010. In one brothel, she found a locked room upstairs littered with used condoms and seven young and terrified women. The UN have promised to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the CAR. When Kathryn Bolkovac, Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of a teenage daughter, signs on to a high-paying job with the United Nations peacekeeping force in Bosnia in 1999, she looks for a fresh start. But when highly identifiable internationals were named as perpetrators, she forwarded the cases to the internal affairs unit. only department that did any work," she said. being a cop. 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