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

Judiciary – Key Decisions Victim Participation
and Documentation Section (PIDS) of the
Court, has fallen short of adequately reaching
out to female victims and victims of sexual
or gender-based violence. 1682 The cumulative
impact of this work has resulted in a significant
under-representation of women applying to be
recognised as victims by the ICC, and therefore a
disconnection between the profile of victims in
reality and the demographics of ‘victims’ for the
purposes of accessing justice at the ICC. 1683
Despite this gender disparity, there has been
a consistent and exponential increase in the
number of applications for victim participation
received by the Court over the last number of
years. However, the volume of applications for
victim participation, particularly in specific
cases and Situations such as the Bemba case,
has outstripped the capacity of the VPRS to
process them in a timely manner and has
led to a significant backlog in the number of
unprocessed applications. For example, in late
August 2011, the Registry indicated to the Trial
Chamber in the Bemba case that almost 3,000
applications for victim participation in those
proceedings are still being processed by the
VPRS. 1684 In May 2011 in the Mbarushimana
case, the Registry reported receiving almost 800
applications for victim participation which it
had not been able to process or transmit to the
Chamber in advance of the filing deadline for
1682 This is discussed further in the Structures and
Institutional Development section above under the
headings ‘Outreach Programme’ and ‘Overview of Trends
– Outreach’.
1683 The breakdown of victim participants by gender is
discussed further below. See also <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong>
2010, p 191 and <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong> 2009, p 95; See also,
the speech at the launch of the <strong>Gender</strong> <strong>Report</strong> <strong>Card</strong> on
the International Criminal Court 2010, Brigid Inder, p 7-8,
available at
1684 ICC-01/05-01/08-1726, para 3. See also ‘Thousands
more apply to join Bemba’s trial as victims’, Bembatrial.
org, 30 September 2011, available at ,
last visited on
25 October 2011, citing a figure of 2830 unprocessed
applications.
participation in the confirmation of charges
hearing. 1685 Likewise, in the Muthaura et al case
in August 2011, the Registry acknowledged
receiving approximately 2,600 applications for
victim participation in the Kenya Situation and
cases in addition to the 643 applications for
participation, which it had already transmitted
to the Chamber. 1686 These filings indicate that
the VPRS is working its way through a backlog of
over 6,000 applications for victim participation,
a significantly higher figure than the 2,577
applications listed as registered by the VPRS
between 30 August 2010 and 1 September 2011.
This figure is also higher than the total number
of applications for participation registered
by the VPRS since the beginning of the victim
participation process in 2005. 1687
The consequences of this backlog of
applications is having an impact on all parties
and participants before the Court. In some
instances, victim applicants are facing long
delays in having their application transmitted
to the Chamber and for a decision on their
participatory status to be reached, but in some
cases the delay in processing the applications
can deny victims the opportunity to have their
views and concerns presented in relation to
certain judicial proceedings. For example,
in the Mbarushimana case, the VPRS was
unable to transmit almost 800 applications
for participation to the Chamber by a
particular deadline, leading to those applicants
being denied judicial consideration of their
applications and the right to participate in the
confirmation of charges hearing. As discussed
1685 ICC-01/04-01/10-213, para 1, citing an exact figure of
783 applications.
1686 ICC-01/09-02/11-213, p 3-4.
1687 The figures provided by the VPRS by email dated 14
September 2011 indicate a total of 2,577 applications
for participation have been registered by the VPRS
in the last year and a total of 6,156 applications for
participation received since 2005. The total number of
applications not yet processed and/or transmitted to
Chambers referenced in filings of the VPRS discussed
above amounts to approximately 6,213.
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