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

OTP Situations and Cases
CAR
The Situation in the CAR was referred to the
Court in December 2004 by the Government
of the CAR. 765 The Prosecutor announced the
opening of an investigation in May 2007. The
investigation has focused on the serious crimes
committed during a peak of violence in 2002-
2003, while continuing to monitor crimes
committed since 2005, in particular in the north
of the CAR. In announcing the investigation, the
Prosecutor noted an exceptionally high number
of rapes reported during the peak of violence, at
least 600 in a period of five months. 766
To date in the CAR Situation, charges have
only been issued against Jean-Pierre Bemba
Gombo (Bemba), President and Commanderin-Chief
of the Mouvement de libération du
Congo (MLC) during the relevant period. The
MLC allegedly entered CAR territory to assist
the weakened forces that had remained loyal
to the then-CAR President Ange-Félix Patassé,
in order to suppress an attempted coup led by
François Bozizé, former Chief of Staff of the CAR
national forces. Patassé was exiled from the CAR
in 2003, at which time Bozizé seized power. He
remains President. Patassé, who was named in
the Bemba Arrest Warrant as having formed
an agreement with Bemba to maintain his
own power, 767 returned to the CAR in both 2008
and 2009. Although Patassé had expressed his
intention to run for President again, he died on 5
April 2011. 768 The trial against Bemba started on
22 November 2010.
765 ICC/01/05-1, p 1; ICC-01/05-01/08-14, para 1. The
referral was publicly announced by the Prosecution in
early 2005: ICC-OTP-20050107-86.
766 Background: Situation in the Central African Republic,
ICC-OTP-BN-20070522-220-A_EN.
767 ICC-01/05-01/08-15-tENG, para 20.
768 ‘<strong>Report</strong> of the Secretary-General on the situation in the
Central African Republic and on the activities of the
United Nations Integrated Peacebuilding Office in that
country’, Document number S/2011/311, 16 May 2011,
para 7 (hereinafter ‘<strong>Report</strong> of the UNSG on the CAR,
May 2011’), available at < http://www.un.org/Docs/sc/
sgrep11.htm>.
The CAR continues to be affected by crimes
committed in the north of the country, involving
numerous rebel groups and the Government.
In particular, the northern and eastern parts
of the country continue to experience a
heightened degree of violence with clashes
between different military groups, in particular
between the Convention des patriotes pour la
justice et la paix (CPJP), 769 and the Forces armées
centrafricaines (FACA) and the Union des forces
démocratiques pour le rassemblement (UFDR). 770
In September 2011, the situation in the northeast
further deteriorated. 771 The increase
in violence in the region has resulted in an
unconfirmed number of civilian casualties and
significant destruction of properties, while also
increasing tensions between different ethnic
groups. 772 Humanitarian access is reportedly
difficult in the north-east of the CAR due to the
frequent clashes between the different militias,
and the human rights situation in the region
remains particularly fragile. 773
Despite the continuation of the commission
of crimes in the north by different groups,
the Government of the CAR has made formal
attempts to prevent ICC investigations into these
crimes. On 18 December 2004, the Government
of the CAR requested that the OTP initiate
investigations into the crimes against humanity
and war crimes committed by Patassé. 774 On 1
August 2008, Bozizé submitted a letter to the
Secretary General requesting that the UN use
its authority under Article 16 to intervene in any
investigation into the crimes in the North of the
769 The CPJP is the only politico-military group that did not
sign the 2008 Libreville peace accords. <strong>Report</strong> of the
UNSG on the CAR, May 2011, para 5.
770 <strong>Report</strong> of the UNSG on the CAR, May 2011, para 32.
771 ‘Central African Republic, Information Bulletin No.
178’, UNOCHA, 13 – 27 September 2011, available at
, last visited on 27 October 2011.
772 <strong>Report</strong> of the UNSG on the CAR, May 2011, para 34.
773 <strong>Report</strong> of the UNSG on the CAR, May 2011, paras 41, 52.
774 ICC-01/05-01/08-704-Red3, para 36.
167