Gender Report Card on the International Criminal ... - YWCA Canada

OTP Investigation and Prosecution Strategy
The role of NGOs
NGOs, including the Women’s Initiatives for
<strong>Gender</strong> Justice, have also taken a more active
role in attempting to address or correct to
absence of charges for gender-based crimes.
In the Lubanga case, on 16 August 2006, the
Women’s Initiatives for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice submitted
a confidential report detailing 55 interviews
with victims/survivors of gender-based crimes,
31 of whom identified the Union des patriotes
congolais (UPC) as allegedly responsible for the
acts. In an accompanying letter to the Office
of the Prosecutor, the Women’s Initiatives
expressed grave concerns that gender-based
crimes had not been adequately investigated,
and provided information about the commission
of these crimes by the UPC. 496 In September
and November 2006, the Women’s Initiatives
filed two requests to participate as amicus
curiae in the Lubanga case and DRC Situation,
respectively. 497 In these requests, the Women’s
Initiatives asked the judges to review the
Prosecutor’s exercise of discretion in the
selection of charges and to determine whether
broader charges could be considered, also
relying on Article 61(7) of the Rome Statute.
Despite reports of gender-based crimes allegedly
committed by the UPC, as documented by a
range of United Nations (UN) agencies and
NGOs, including the Women’s Initiatives, no
gender-based crimes were included in the
charges against Lubanga.
On 13 July 2009, in the Bemba case, the Women’s
Initiatives for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice filed a request to
submit amicus curiae observations to the Pre-
Trial Chamber in support of the Prosecution
request for leave to appeal the decision of the
Pre-Trial Chamber not to include charges of rape
as torture and outrages upon personal dignity
in the confirmation of charges decision. The
Women’s Initiatives was granted amicus curiae
status on 17 July 2009, and on 31 July filed an
amicus curiae brief. The Women’s Initiatives,
working with the eminent scholar and
practitioner Patricia Viseur-Sellers, argued that
cumulative charging ‘does not violate fair trial
practices’. 498 Following the practice in national
and international courts, ‘as long as a charge has
a sufficient evidentiary basis, the determination
of whether charges are cumulative can occur
at the end of trial’ upon a finding of guilt.
While at that stage cumulative convictions
are impermissible, the inclusion of cumulative
charges in the indictment is in keeping with a
fair trial. 499 However, on 18 September 2009,
the Pre-Trial Chamber denied the Prosecution’s
request for leave to appeal. 500 The amicus curiae
filing and the related decisions are discussed in
detail in the <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong> 2009. 501
496 The redacted version of this letter is available at .
497 The requests for leave are available in Legal Filings
submitted by the Women’s Initiatives for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice
to the International Criminal Court, available at .
498 ‘Amicus Curiae Observations of the Women’s Initiatives
for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice pursuant to Rule 103 of the Rules of
Procedure and Evidence’, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre
Bemba Gombo, ICC-01/05-01/08-466, para 22.
499 ‘Amicus Curiae Observations of the Women’s Initiatives
for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice pursuant to Rule 103 of the Rules of
Procedure and Evidence’, The Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre
Bemba Gombo, ICC-01/05-01/08-466, para 22.
500 ICC-01/05-01/08-532.
501 <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong> 2009, p 142-144.
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