WUNRN
ICC TRIAL ON WAR-RAPE/VIOLENCE
PROSECUTION
CONCERNS ABOUT CHARGES
DROPPED, TESTIMONIES NEEDED +
January
6, 2011
Jean-Pierre
Bemba's trial marks the first time that sexual violence is central to an
International Criminal Court case. But so far, few female victims in the
Central African Republic are giving testimony and many charges have been
dropped.
UNITED
NATIONS (WOMENSENEWS)--The prosecution of Jean-Pierre Bemba, which resumes Jan.
11 in The Hague, is expected to continue taking testimony about the sexual
violence committed by his troops in the Central African Republic between 2002
and 2003.
The
trial marks the first major prosecution of rape as a weapon of war and a
fulfillment of years of international legal advocacy for female war victims.
Three of the
four witnesses who testified in Bemba's trial between Nov. 22 and Dec. 6
recounted rapes by Bemba's Congolese troops.
"Witness
38" described watching a young girl get raped in front of her mother.
"Witness 22" described getting gang raped by three soldiers while her
family was held captive in another room, according to testimony posted on the
monitoring site BembaTrial.org.
But despite
the focus on rape, Brigid Inder is worried about aspects of the somewhat
showcase trial.
Inder
is the executive director of Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, a
nongovernmental group based in The Hague that looks out for women's interests
in trials at the International Criminal Court, known as the ICC.
Two
Troubling Statistics
So far, her
group is troubled by two trial statistics.
No. 1: Forty
percent of the charges of sexual violence were dropped before the trial
commenced at the end of November because the judge said they were redundant
with existing charges.
No. 2: Only
39 percent of the 1,051 victims whose testimonies have been approved in the
Bemba trial are female.
"It
doesn't represent a lack of interest by women to participate or to seek
justice, nor a diminished desire for accountability," Inder told Women's
eNews in an interview in New York. "The ICC has overlooked the importance
of developing good relationships with women leaders in conflict
communities."
The
International Criminal Court's public affairs office didn't reply to e-mail
requests for comment.
Arrested in
May 2008, Bemba is being charged with war crimes for allowing his troops to
murder, pillage and rape in the Central African Republic between 2002 and 2003.
Bemba, vice
president of the Democratic Republic of Congo from 2003 to 2006 and leader of
the opposition group Movement for the Liberation of Congo, was called in with
his rebel group to neighboring Central African Republic by its president,
Ange-Felix Patasse, to fight off an attempted coup.
Dropped
Charges Minimize Trauma
Mariana
Goetz, International Criminal Court program advisor of REDRESS Trust, a
London-based organization that aids torture survivors, is also closely watching
the trial.
She says the
dropped charges of sexual violence and the exclusion of torture charges are
minimizing the trauma suffered by Bemba's alleged victims.
Sexual
violence victims from the Central African Republic were frequently raped
collectively in public spaces and in front of friends and family as a terror
tactic, Goetz said.
Court
appearances can be dangerous for victims and witnesses. For that reason, only
three victims have appeared before the International Criminal Court since its
establishment in 2002.
More than
600 victim applications are still pending in the Bemba case. Approval gives
victims the right to participate through written testimony and to potentially
receive reparations. It does not require a court appearance.
Two lawyers
from the Central African Republic are representing the 1,051 victims, who are
categorized by geographic location but not by the nature of human rights
abuses, says Inder.