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

Structures & Institutional Development Recommendations
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The safety practices adopted by the VPRS in their country-based consultations should be
strengthened 276 to ensure that applicants and victims are not overly exposed to each other, to
the wider community nor to NGOs who are not directly involved as intermediaries with the
specific victims.
The methodology employed by the VPRS for consulting victims about their views on legal
representation should be revised to ensure that victims are provided with information regarding
the full range of options for legal representation, along with relevant security issues, including
the protection the ICC is able/unable to provide to victims. Victims should not feel pressured
into agreeing to a common legal representative and should be provided with accessible
information about all available options associated with legal representation and their rights as
applicants before the ICC.
Legal Counsel and Professional Investigators
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The Counsel Support Section (CSS) should ensure that the application form for the List of
Legal Counsel seeks information about candidates’ experience representing victims of genderbased
crimes. Currently, lawyers with this specialised expertise are not yet explicitly encouraged
to apply. The Registry should encourage applications from lawyers with this experience on the
ICC website and develop a ‘Frequently Asked Questions’ page to promote a better understanding
of the application process.
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In May 2010, the Registry of the ICC, in collaboration with the International Bar Association,
launched the Calling African Women Lawyers campaign to address the consistent
underrepresentation of women on the List of Legal Counsel. The campaign, initially planned for
six months, was extended to the end of 2011. A review of the figures indicates a 183% increase in
the number of African women appointed to the List in 2011 compared with the figures for 2010.
There are now 34 African women on the List of Counsel compared with 12 appointees in 2010.
This is the largest increase in the number of women appointed to the List in a 12 month period,
since the List was opened in 2006.
The CSS should report to the tenth session of the ASP on the impact of the campaign and their
proposed strategies for continuing this intervention as well as initiating other campaigns to
promote the List of Legal Counsel to women lawyers in other regions. Currently 403 individuals
have been appointed to the List of which 308 are men (76.5%) and 95 are women (23.5%).
A comprehensive evaluation of the campaign should be conducted by the CSS. In addition,
the CSS should establish baseline data for new regional campaigns to enable them to monitor
and evaluate the impact of tailored interventions in increasing applications from women
lawyers, and ultimately increasing the number of female lawyers appointed to the List.
276 The Women’s Initiatives for <strong>Gender</strong> Justice makes these recommendations regarding VPRS field consultations based on feedback
from victims, applicants and partners in the Situation countries.
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