Giving Compass' Take:

• Mersiha Gadzo explains that justice has been slow - and mostly nonexistent - for women who experienced sexual violence during the war in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

• How can funders help survivors of sexual violence get justice? 

• Learn about ways for individuals to help sexual violence survivors. 

Two decades have passed since the war ended in Bosnia and Herzegovina, but Selma — not her real name — still lives in fear.

She is a survivor of rape and a former prisoner of the 1992-95 Bosnian war, in which an estimated 100,000 people were killed. Some estimates put the number of women raped during the conflict at up to 50,000.

With no legal mechanism in place that would cover victims' court fees, torture victims have appealed to the European Court of Human Rights in Strasbourg, seeking their rights.

A state-level law on the rights of victims of torture was first introduced in parliament in 2014, but it wasn't adopted due to a lack of support from Republika Srpska representatives, who claimed that it would discriminate against Serbs.

The initiative to implement a law started in 2004 and since then has been drafted at least eight times.

If it's adopted, it would regulate compensation for torture victims according to the state's economic ability, as well as provide free healthcare and psychological aid.

So far 10 victims of sexual abuse during wartime Bosnia have been awarded compensation for damages, according to statistics by TRIAL.

However even when the civil proceeding is successful and the perpetrator is found guilty, he's often financially unable to pay for damages.

Read the full article about how Bosnian war victims continue to struggle by Mersiha Gadzo at Al Jazeera.