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

Judiciary – Key Decisions Protection and Protective Measures
Crucially, 58 victims consulted informed the LRV that
many people in their communities do not understand
the difference between witnesses and victims and that
as such, they risk being seen as materially aiding the
Prosecution’s case against the three individuals. 2074
The LRV further observed that 60 victims did not state
any security concerns regarding the disclosure of
their identities. She noted that after consulting with
21 of these victims, it was clear that these responses
stemmed from a reckless disregard for their personal
safety, or from an essential misunderstanding of
the question and/or the need for disclosure. Many
victims indicated that they thought disclosure to
be a necessary component for participation and/
or reparation. 2075 This suggests that insufficient or
incomplete outreach conducted by the Court through
the VPRS and the PIDS can significantly and directly
increase security concerns for victims participating
in the ICC trials. The Court should ensure that its
outreach strategies cover all aspects of the Court’s
procedures and include outreach to communities
generally to explain the requirements for victim
participation and what it means to be a victim before
the Court.
LRV Chana noted that she had not been able to contact
all victims within the time schedule proposed by the
Chamber because of security concerns. She stressed
that she had been informed by her local intermediaries
that there are people in Kenya purporting to be ICC
staff for the purposes of collecting information or
spreading misinformation. 2076 This has resulted in the
development of a climate of mistrust, which made
it difficult to contact victims through the regular
modes of communication such as email or telephone.
Therefore, the LRV submitted that she has to meet
individually with all of the victims she represents out
of caution. 2077 Citing the above-mentioned security
concerns, the LRV suggested that the identity of
those victims with whom she had not yet consulted
remain undisclosed to the public and the Defence
until such time as they indicate their identities can be
disclosed. 2078
On 8 September 2011, LRV Chana spoke before the
Pre-Trial Chamber regarding ‘attempts [that] may
be underway to create a climate of intimidation in
Kenya towards those involved in proceedings before
this court, especially Kalenjin and Nandi victims and
indeed witnesses’. 2079 Reading from an e-mail she
received from a field worker in Kenya, LRV Chana
stated that Charles Keter, a Kenyan Member of
Parliament who attended the hearings in The Hague,
had threatened witnesses on a Kenyan radio station,
notably Kass FM, by asserting that the case against
the accused is ‘pure falsehood hatched by PNU
supporters’ 2080 and that both those who have testified
before the Court, whose identities he claimed to know,
and those ‘traitors’ who remain at home ‘will face
unspecified consequences’. 2081 He named the ‘traitors’
as the Nandi, a subgroup of the Kalenjin ethnic group
to which Ruto, Kosgey and Sang belong. According to a
report made by one of the victims, Keter pronounced
‘It is you Nandi people who are traitors of our people
… We will give them the treatment deserving of
traitors.’ 2082 LRV Chana noted that her clients were
before the Court to ‘make their contribution to the
future of the communities but they look to the support
mechanisms of the court to assist them to do so’. 2083
2074 ICC-01/09-01/11-292, para 8.
2075 ICC-01/09-01/11-292, para 12.
2076 ICC-01/09-01/11-292, para 17.
2077 ICC-01/09-01/11-292, para 18.
2078 ICC-01/09-01/11-292, para 20.
2079 ICC-01/09-01/11-T-12-ENG, p 27 lines 1-3; and p 27-29..
2080 ICC-01/09-01/11-T-12-ENG, p 27 line 17.
2081 ICC-01/09-01/11-T-12-ENG, p 27 lines 22-25; p 28 lines
1-6.
2082 ICC-01/09-01/11-T-12-ENG, p 28 lines 14-25; p29 lines
1-4.
2083 ICC-01/09-01/11-T-12-ENG, p 29 lines 15-17.
320