Kathryn Bolkovac was demoted to a desk job after raising sex trafficking concerns. Many were either simply jailed or deported, at which point law enforcement on the other side forced them back into prostitution. I'm not 02/29/2016. leave from the Lincoln Police Department but was turned down. Netherlands, that's where it hit me. volleyball scholarship, then returned to Nebraska to start her Despite this, Weisz does. "These brothels were disguised as bars and restaurants and hotels and strip clubs and dance clubs, and they were just scattered throughout the hills of Bosnia. I'm happy it's showing there, where I'm 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. She lives in Lincoln, Nebraska, and Amsterdam. She decided to take DynCorp to a tribunal for unfair dismissal and was determined to expose the sex trafficking. fought her dismissal in an English court, using secret tape The UN have promised to investigate allegations of sexual abuse by peacekeepers in the CAR. lot to do with it," she said. the Civilian Extraterritorial Jurisdiction Act -- that would bring Media Arts Center. However, only one man lost his job after being caught in a brothel. The tribunal unanimously ruled in her favor on Aug. 2, 2002. Because of the abrupt tonal shifts, Kondracki does not maintain momentum. But everything changed when a young girl who had escaped a local brothel was brought into Bolkovacs office. Bolkovac. At age 28, she saw an ad in the Journal Star looking for Bolkovac is a former Nebraska policewoman who served as an International Police Task Force human rights investigator in Bosnia. "When I got to Jan's house in the But not as she 0. KATHRYN BOLKOVAC's battle to expose her colleagues who abused women has been made into a film. in the fourth grade. She is alsoan active member and founder of several organisations including the Noor Educational andCapacity Development Organisation (NECDO). person to portray. In November 2002, an employment tribunal ordered DynCorp to pay Bolkovac 110,221 in damages. pool with a beer in his hand and said he knew where to find really We need more development of police officers and how to do good investigations and we need to make sure that we change laws.". accountability for international contractors and their employees. kwolgamott@journalstar.com, or follow him on Twitter at 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.' In the late 1990s Kathyrn Bolkovac a Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three answered a job ad to work in Bosnia for a U.S. defense contractor. Bolkovac says she and the other new officers tried to convince themselves they had misunderstood. build my CV, and I was interested in international policing.". Dont be afraid to change the world, Bolkovac said. by their husbands, a crime that had not been prosecuted in Bosnia, nonetheless signed on with DynCorp. "So, who do you think these girls are for?". "Come on, this is war," she is told. In April 2001, she was accused of falsifying her time sheets and It was released in 2010. The Whistleblower, Larysa Kondracki's uneven debut feature exposing the explosive subject of sex trafficking, derives its strength from Rachel Weisz's intelligent performance as the real-life Bolkovac. Additionally, she said, working in Lincoln with its progressive was so out in the open, you had to be blind not to see it going on. Some of her goals as Vice-President are to highlight intersectionality and increase diversity by fostering inclusive spaces for mentorship and leadership. Yet Balkovac had trouble convincing them to leave. California residents do not sell my data request. But now it emerges that senior UN officials tried to belittle the film and play it down, while the whistleblower herself warns that, for all the UN's professed resolve, "unfortunately, the widespread horror is already there. Sixteen states are believed to have supplied weapons to Afghanistan from 2001 to 2020 with the US supplying 74 % of weapons, followed by Russia. 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. Fusce hendrerit purus leo. In The Whistleblower, Balkovac is given a range of excuses for the blind-eye stance. There were no safe homes to place victims in. ", Despite having had training to put emotions aside, that task was sometimes impossible, Balkovac says, especially since she had daughters at home. DynCorp was ultimately ordered to pay a pittance for Bolkovacs wrongful termination and fired seven employees who never faced criminal prosecution. In 1999, Kathryn Bolkovac went to Bosnia as part of a UN mission. "But I ended up working as much with women who were being trafficked and raped by soldiers and police officers sent to keep the peace." Her other children Jake, 31 and Erin, 26, live in the United States and she sees them regularly. Such was the crisis sparked by the ensuing film last year that the UN secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, was obliged in October to stage a special screening and to pledge action. Lincoln "Whistleblower" nominated for Nobel Prize. Fearing for her safety, Bolkovac fled the country. Bolkovac's disclosures have been a precursor to some recent ones, like, for example . On Oct. 9, 2000, she sent an email to about 50 people at the U.N., DynCorp, and the IPTF. Bolkovac's co-workers began hearing rumors that she would be And then, I had a supervisor actually at the time who knew this was going on a female supervisor and she said, 'You know, you might at well start making copies and start a file on these because this is just going to be a snowball effect.'". Horrifically however, peacekeepers and other international actors actually became perpetrators of human trafficking, sexual violence and abuse themselves, as uncovered by Kathryn Bolkovac and our very own Madeleine Rees. He holds dual bachelor's degrees from Pace University and a master's degree from New York University. But more important than the accolades is that everything in the film is true. If you don't prosecute or repatriate enough people, your rating is downgraded, thereby your financial support. "Whenever you work an event that involves children whether it's a child death or a sexual assault or incest or anything else, which is what my specialties were before I went in to Bosnia you learn how to deal with those and compartmentalize a bit. October 2, 2014-International Association of Women Police. "I went to this bar and found seven young women locked in a room upstairs. When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. It was a repatriation factory, run by people who had an anti-immigration approach, and didn't want women to try to get into western Europe no focus on the system or rights of the women. congressman when this is over.'". Before going on a UN peacekeeping mission to Bosnia 13 years ago , Bolkovac, 51, was a police officer in Nebraska. (Samuel Goldwyn Films). They preferred downplaying the film. Her efforts to get an international policing position were film school graduates approached her about doing a movie. Suspendisse euismod congue ultricies. So many of these girls were obviously not free to speak and were afraid for their lives and certainly werent going to tell the very people who were perpetrating crimes against them, who came to save them, that they wanted out, said Bolkovac. something and got herself assigned to the Human Rights Watch, "the Washington DC, 20006, Alaska Native News: Journalists Say Elon Musk Needs to Reinstitute Monitoring of Twitter, The Atlanta Journal-Constitution: Georgia ICE Whistleblower Files Suit Against Private Prison Company, Press Release: Government Accountability Project Files First Amendment Complaint on Behalf of Whistleblower Nurse Dawn Wooten, JURIST: Twitter upholds suspension of JURIST Journalist in Residence Steve Herman, Reflections from the Financial Crisis: Richard Bowen and Citigroup. around doing nothing and no one seemed upset. Just be forewarned, this is not an easy road ahead of you.. Bolkovac was first demoted, then fired by DynCorp in 2001. Sexual trafficking. other was 15," she said. Her courageous actions and subsequent reprisal were portrayed by Rachel Weisz in the film,The Whistleblower. The subject line read bluntly: Do not read this if you have a weak stomach or a guilty conscience.. Kathryn Bolkovac is a former police officer from Nebraska. from the lawsuit, about $175,000 at the time. "I'm a little bigger "My kids were growing up, two of them were in college and the We couldn't really capture the hopelessness of life these women are subjected to.". ", In that email, she laid out her findings, drawing a distinction Her story was shown in the film The Whistleblower and told in the nonfiction book, The Whistleblower, with journalist Cari Lynn. As Bolkovac took her concerns up the chain of command, she was blocked; her work was sabotaged, her life threatened. She tried nursing and spent three years in school before While she elicits a tense and eloquent performance from Weisz, the first-time filmmaker fails to maintain a consistent tone. Toronto Film Festival last year and has watched it a handful of If they want out of this why don't they whisper in our ears when we go into these bars that they're being held captive? The Lincoln police officer got her adventure. Nonetheless, the now-grandmother of six hopes that her story inspires those who similarly find themselves in a position to prevent injustice. "Not being able to know who to trust when you are working with police officers and UN officials It was clear that the protection of the 'good old boys' club' was a first priority.". In response to the takeover of Afghanistan by the Taliban and its targeted attacks on civil society members, WILPF Afghanistan issued several statements calling on the international community to stand in solidarity with Afghan people and ensure that their rights be upheld, including access to aid. Mini Bio (1) Kathryn Bolkovac is known for The Whistleblower (2010), Kathy Bolkovac: The Real Whistleblower (2012) and Charlie Rose (1991). Nulla congue iaculis feugiat. A new film, The Whistleblower, presents an on the ground retelling of the story of Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz), a Nebraskan police officer who became part of the United Nations police team in post-war Bosnia.Hired by Democra, a government contractor that recruited candidates, she uncovered a . Cras ut condimentum turpis. She spoke little English, but kept repeating the word Florida. Bolkovac knew of a local bar of the same name one regularly frequented by humanitarian workers at the IPTF, DynCorp, and U.S. personnel. psychological intimidation, that I couldn't trust my kind.". she is one of famous Activist with the age years old group. As it became clear that a film inspired by her story and book Her film samples multiple genres. When Bolkovac stands up to her sexist bosses, Kondracki's film sweats like a thriller. But when highly identifiable internationals were named as perpetrators, she forwarded the cases to the internal affairs unit. A senior employee found to be having a relationship with a 17-year-old trafficking victim was let off without punishment and some officers frequenting brothels were ordered to resign but without a permanent mark on their records. But once she got to Bosnia, the human trafficking was incredibly apparent. She "I stayed in the mission as long as I could, got my records and She and Jan now live in Breda in Holland and after years of menial jobs and a brief career as a nurse Kathryn is working at an auctioneers. June 12-AIDS-Free World-Film Screening w/ Panel Discussion at the Global Summit. The handheld scenes of sex workers look like they were made by an exploitation director. The film deals with enslavement and rape in Bosnia, not during wartime 20 years ago but during the peace. None of them ever faced criminal prosecution. It brings back the time, the reality of it. Many are younger than her daughter. the promise of getting to go home if they earned enough money. Eventually, Bolkovac wrote an email to about 50 mission I felt I was ready for an adventure. The film is a fictionalised dramatisation of Bolkovac's time in Bosnia, in which the protagonist is employed by a company called "DemocraCorp", and the names of her real-life superiors are changed. room. earlier this year. Beyond bringing perspectives that encapsulate the views of half of the society and unlike the men only designed processes, womens true and meaningful participation allows the situation to improve. Kathryn Bolkovac is a former police investigator from Nebraska who served as an International Police Task Force human rights investigator in Bosnia.She cooperated with Human Rights Watch to expose the misconduct and human rights abuses committed against young girls, forced into prostitution and used as sex slaves by U.S. military contractors such as DynCorp and other UN-related police and . English actress Rachel Weisz portrays Kathryn Bolkovac in the "I'd been praying it would come to Lincoln," she said. "War whores," her colleagues call them. never going to make any money off of it. screening, which will be followed by a question-and-answer session After bringing her She admits to missing a day of work when she and a number of get it to Lincoln. The Whistleblower is centered on Bolkovac (Weisz), a mother of three who, in 1999, takes an $85,000 contract with DynCorp (Democra Services in the film), a U.S.-paid contractor that was recruiting . She is a published author on matters regarding anti-corruption, human trafficking, and ethics as well as an international public speaker. She tried to sound the alarm, and she was fired. "A lot of these women were either jailed for short periods of time as illegal immigrants or prostitutes and then, you know, forced out of the country and ultimately probably picked up again. The recruitment process was inadequate (she wasnt interviewed in person) and the training scant. She had two allies: Rees, and a supportive Dutch colleague who became her husband. However, she soon finds out that her UN colleagues . To her point, peacekeepers were found to have raped locals at a U.N. base in Haiti in September 2011, resulting in mass protests. Photograph: Allstar. brothels would be all over the place.". Kathryn is a phenomenal celebrity influencer. She's urging people to marshal support for a bill in Congress -- life.". The experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a cop from Nebraska, who worked as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposed a U.N. sex scandal that was covered up. Besides Bolkovac, we meet a U.N. human rights official (Vanessa Redgrave), a by-the-book agency head who sees the problem but refuses to rock the boat (Monica Belluci) and a conveniently helpful . She became a human rights investigator and discovered, to her . Florida, where she found seven terrified young women huddled in a Discover Kathryn Bolkovacs Biography, Age, Height, Physical Stats, Dating/Affairs, Family and career updates. Bosnia. With Rachel Weisz, Vanessa Redgrave, Monica Bellucci, David Strathairn. remove yourself from it. who had a vested interest in protecting the U.N. and DynCorp, to These were men who worked alongside her for the United Nations, for the US State Department and for the company she was employed by, DynCorp. [20], United Nations International Police Task Force, Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, "110,000 payout for sacked whistleblower", "Insight: Kathryn Bolkovac, whistleblower", "A 'Whistleblower' Made Into A Hollywood Heroine", "The Whistleblower: Sex Trafficking, Military Contractors and One Woman's Fight for Justice", "Former UN Police Investigator Explains The Problems She Faced As A Whistleblower", "Undergrad nominated for Nobel Peace Prize", United Nations webcast: Panel discussion: Sexual exploitation and abuse in conflict and post-conflict situations, "A 'Whistleblower' Against International Injustice", https://en.wikipedia.org/w/index.php?title=Kathryn_Bolkovac&oldid=1125751539, This page was last edited on 5 December 2022, at 17:20. Bolkovac has three children from her first marriage, two daughters and a son. But it wasn't a complex case." I'm Bolkovac had found organized crime at its most disgusting among the While there, she made the harrowing discovery of a child sex trafficking ring that not only was connected to the companys most powerful people but was also being covered up by the United Nations. Vestibulum ante ipsum primis in faucibus orci luctus et ultrices posuere cubilia curae; Curabitur efficitur gravida ipsum, quis ultricies erat iaculis pellentesque. For that reason, Madeleine Rees, now as the Secretary-General of WILPF, through WILPFs Paths to Justice Project, continues to fight for real accountability and against impunity. pretty qualified," she said. "It wasn't even well-hidden," Bolkovac says. Cast: Rachel Weisz Monica Bellucci Vanessa Redgrave Benedict Cumberbatch David Strathairn Liam Cunningham David Hewlett William Hope WILPF uses feminist analysis to argue that militarisation is a counter-productive and ill-conceived response to establishing security in the world. Her work focuses on human trafficking for forced prostitution and violence against women. It was my dream job, she says. The more society becomes militarised, the more violence and injustice are likely to grow locally and worldwide. Bolkovac, who was born in Ohio, moved to Nebraska when she was Kathryn Bolkovac je amerika policajka i zviaica hrvatskog podrijetla. Kathryn Bolkovac Bolkovac is a former Nebraska policewoman who served as an International Police Task Force human rights investigator in Bosnia. [responsivevoice_button buttontext="Screen reader"], Jamila Afghani is the President of WILPF Afghanistan which she started in 2015. See today's front and back pages, download the newspaper, order back issues and use the historic Daily Express newspaper archive. Kathryn Bolkovac, from Nebraska, was sacked by Dyncorp of Virginia, to which peacekeeping police work in Bosnia had been outsourced; her employer claimed she had filed erroneous time-sheets, but . [They were] scared to death, stating they didn't want to be found floating in the river.". Worse, not only were the enslaved women's "clients" soldiers and police officers so too were the traffickers, protected at the top of the United Nations operation in Bosnia. The bill would give the Department of Justice authority to investigate overseas crimes and make arrests off our domestic soil. Sed blandit neque in libero ultricies aliquam. lot. police officers. The position came with higher pay than the Lincoln Police Department, and it could eventually allow her to live near her children, who she lost in the divorce. challenge, my calling.". We need, you know, more training. She turned them down until a couple of Columbia University Kathryn Bolkovac New Mexico Public Education Department Safe Schools Coordinator 523 followers 483 connections Kathryn Bolkovac is a former Nebraska policewoman who served as an International Police Task Force human rights investigator in Bosnia. She cooperated with Human Rights Watch to expose the misconduct and human rights abuses committed against young girls, forced into prostitution and used as sex slaves by U.S. military contractors . Kathryn Bolkovac, a Lincoln, Nebraska police officer who took a job as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia, and whose book THE WHISTLEBLOWER was the basis for the film of the same name, will be appearing at a 7 p.m. screening of the film at The Ross on Thursday, October 20 for a Q&A with the audience. films and received several offers to make a feature film about her The situation has escalated.". Working as a member of the International Police Task Force, she return to police work in the U.S. without re-entering a police Please scroll down to see information about Kathryn Bolkovac Social media profiles. under U.S. law. Kathryn Bolkovac, from Nebraska, was sacked by Dyncorp of Virginia, to which peacekeeping police work in Bosnia had been outsourced; her employer claimed she had filed erroneous time-sheets, but was challenged by Bolkovac and overruled by a British employment tribunal in 2002. She worked as a UN International Police Force monitor. Kathryn Bolkovac, a former IPTF human rights gender officer from the United States, brought a lawsuit in the United Kingdom in 2001 alleging that DynCorp fired her for blowing the whistle on . Rees thus introduced Bolkovac to Karen Bailey, a lawyer in Birmingham, England, with whom she sued DynCorp for wrongful termination in June 2001. In six months, Bolkovac met with 100 young women, many of them How A Nebraska Woman Named Kathryn Bolkovac Uncovered A Vast Pedophile Ring Run By A U.S. Military Contractor. also know about her Social media accounts i.e. [11], In 2015, Bolkovac graduated with a degree in political science from University of NebraskaLincoln. being a cop. Kathryn Bolkovac, better known by her family name Kathryn Bolkovac, is a popular American Activist. But I eventually decided this is my amounted to little more than corporate propaganda, Bolkovac got the No matter where she is, she said, she will continue to fight for The former US policewoman Kathryn Bolkovac was hired in 1999 by DynCorp Aerospace for a UN post aimed at cracking down on sexual abuse and forced prostitution in post-war Bosnia-Herzegovina. the long manuscript into a 240-page book, which was released "That's been the status quo for the past 50 to 100 years," she says. After the silent film screening, Kathryn Bolkovac explained the last 15 years have not exactly been fun. "I try not to think about it day to day," she said. Mauris facilisis luctus rhoncus. The experiences of Kathryn Bolkovac, a cop from Nebraska, who worked as a peacekeeper in post-war Bosnia and exposed a U.N. sex scandal that was covered up. That said, Bolkovac said that she talked at length with Weisz, When Nebraska police officer and divorced mother of three Kathryn Bolkovac saw a recruiting announcement for private military contractor DynCorp International, she applied and was hired. Donec euismod eget diam vitae vehicula. "It was pretty simple," she said. 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. Bolkovac was to work alongside officers from dozens of countries under the umbrella of DynCorp, a defense contractor financed by the United States government. Kathryn Bolkovac accepted the job at DynCorp shortly after she divorced her husband. Starring Rachel Weisz, The Whistleblower, released tomorrow on DVD, is the most searing drama-documentary of recent years and has won many prizes. got out," Bolkovac said. While much has been discoursed, discussed, declared and debated, real, significant and effective action has not been taken. Following a screening of the film, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon opened a panel discussion on sexual exploitation and abuse in conflict and post-conflict situations. Much of this equipment was left behind by the US military and is being used to inflate Talibans arsenal. She couldn't Kathryn tries to get transferred to the area but has no luck. 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. The story, inspired by Bolkovac's experiences in Bosnia and her subsequent book account, is dynamite. This corruption flew all the way to the top of the United Nations and to our State Department and diplomats, Bolkovac said. "This was a difficult time in my life," said Bolkovac. After I won the lawsuit they said there had been a change in company culture but nothing changed, says Kathryn. For blowing the whistle on these crimes and the UNs cover up of its involvement, both these brave women were faced with sanctions, stigma and ultimately the termination of their careers at the UN. WILPF has been working on challenging the prevailing notion of masculinity based on mens physical and social superiority to, and dominance of, women in Afghanistan. Flickr/USAIDBolkovacs book was adapted into a movie which was screened at the United Nations in 2010. DW: Some would say the scandal over sexual abuse of women and boys allegedly committed by UN-peacekeepers in the Central African . Once Bolkovac made it safely to Holland, she and Rees plotted how to take the scandal to court. Bolkovac was suddenly fired for allegedly falsifying timesheets that same year. Some of the girls identified internationals, including men Home of the Daily and Sunday Express. understanding of proper police work that laid the groundwork for We see the iron bar tossed on to the cellar floor when the punishment is over, and we know what has happened. She has suffered emotional, financial, familial and professional turmoil since she decided to do the right thing, and still struggles to give the fight for justice a place in her daily life. Rosabell spent her early childhood in New York City, but the family moved to Rome, Italy, when she was eight . The aspiring filmmakers asked why she hadn't written a book, Also recall courageous whistleblower Kathryn Bolkovac exposing DynCorp's shameful participation in the movement of underage Eastern European girls in the sex slave trafficking in Bosnia with breaking headlines in 1999 (See Book 4's Chapter 4). "I had been threatened several times," Bolkovac said. events in Bosnia. In 2010, Sellers played the daughter of Kathryn Bolkovac (Rachel Weisz) in Larysa Kondracki's The Whistleblower. Vivamus ullamcorper vestibulum neque, a interdum nisl accumsan ac. In 1999 she took an opportunity for a tax-free salary of $85,000 for a year overseas as an International Police Task (IPTF) Monitor with the United Nations. The Whistleblower presents the shocking story of the human rights abuses perpetrated by American mercenary soldiers abroad, as told by the woman who brought them down--now a major motion picture. "It would give us a really good way to be more accountable for our contractors and civilians working in the missions," Balkovac says. Kathryn Bolkovac Personal Life, Relationships and Dating. Human Rights Advocate And Former Police Investigator, The Hacksmith Wiki, Biography, Age, Family, NetWorth & Know More. "I have spoken on this issue for the past 15 years there has been little progress," she says. "Ultimately they were just trashed," Balkovac says. in 1999 to join the United Nations peacekeeping mission in A police officer and divorced mother of three, Kathryn Bolkovac was looking for a fresh start . what you're doing and what you're saying.' Kathryn Bolkovac works on human rights reports in her office in the Ilidza International Police Task Force station in the early weeks of the United Nations peacekeeping mission in Bosnia. [4][5] After a week at the company's training facility in Fort Worth, Texas, Bolkovac was sent to Sarajevo, Bosnia[3] where she worked as a human rights investigator for three months. [12] Also in that year, she was nominated for a Nobel Peace Prize. "I started taking mental