WUNRN
Women's Initiatives for Gender
Justice
The
Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice is an international women’s human rights
organisation that advocates for gender justice through the International
Criminal Court (ICC) and through domestic mechanisms, including peace
negotiations and justice processes. We work with women most affected by the
conflict situations under investigation by the ICC.
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT -
REVIEW OF JURISPRUDENCE & PRACTICE - MODES OF LIABILITY
Direct Link to Full 150-Page Report:
GENDER-BASED CRIMES
The Women’s Initiatives’ monitoring
of the ICC incorporates a gender analysis of the Court’s jurisprudence, as well
as of its structural and institutional development. As of November 2013,
gender-based crimes have been charged in six of eight Situations, 14
of 20 cases with
confirmation decisions rendered in four cases involving charges for these
crimes, To date, there have been few decisions regarding modes of liability
which explicitly address charges for sexual and gender-based crimes.
Within the
four cases to have been dismissed at the confirmation stage, two of these,
Mbarushimana and Ali, contained charges for gender-based crimes with the
Mbarushimana case including the largest number and broadest range of sexual and
gender-based crimes sought by the Office of the Prosecutor. The cases against
Katanga, Bemba and Kenyatta remain with charges for crimes of sexual violence
confirmed.
Cases at the
trial stage inclusive of charges of gender-based crimes have also faced delays
and legal uncertainty due to issues relating to modes of liability. With the
Katanga and Bemba cases in the midst of Regulation 55 proceedings regarding the
mode of liability, to date no case including charges of gender-based crimes has
reached a trial judgement resulting in a conviction or an acquittal that
includes adjudication of those charges.[19]
In the absence
of such judgements, this paper reviews the few decisions and dissenting
opinions in which modes of liability and gender-based crimes have been
explicitly addressed.