2015 EDITION Vol.3 Issue 11 DIGITAL

A message
for the
women
Bensouda: As a woman
and an African, I add my voice to
the chorus of others who champion
women’s rights in the pursuit
of peace and stability. There are
many ways to strive for and ordain
peaceful change. Mine is the
language of law. In my role as ICC
Prosecutor, I am reminded daily of
the consequences of armed conflict
on the lives of women and girls. In
the courage and dignity of victims
and survivors, I have seen human
nature at its best. And reflected in
the sheer brutality of crimes against
them, I have seen it at its very worst.
Sexual and gender-based violence
is sadly characteristic of so many
conflicts, often in circumstances
where violence against women is
already entrenched.
I am acutely aware that for women
and girls, especially, the cost of
armed conflict is more than the
already weighty burden of physical
and psychological scars. While the
suffering of war is felt by entire
communities, prevailing inequalities
exacerbate the consequences for
women and girls.
Greater inclusion of women in
positions of responsibility gives a
voice to a group intensely affected
by war but rarely participant in the
decisions that lead to it. It is long
overdue for women the world over
to finally and fully participate in all
spheres of social, cultural, economic
and political life, and for men to
fulfil the honourable role of standing
strong with women in promoting
equality.
Women leadership at all levels will
provide a platform for women and
girls who have been traditionally
marginalised to speak up, to stand
tall, and to hold their oppressors to
account.
Kata Kata: Today in many
African countries, the name, ICC
is received with some degree of
scepticism. What do you think is
the reason behind this negative
perception amongst Africans?
Bensouda: The root of
such critiques can be traced mainly
to one of the challenges facing the
ICC: misperceptions about the
Court’s mandate and the limits
and potentials of its jurisdiction
– in other words, a lack of full
understanding of where the Court
can and cannot legally act and why,
and how the ICC was seized by the
situations and cases currently before
it. Within the limits of its resources
and means, the Court does its best
to counter such misperceptions,
but it needs the assistance of its
supporters. The Court’s member
states, civil society, academia and
indeed, the media can play a crucial
supportive role in this regard to
demystify the ICC.
So who tops
the list?
Kata Kata: Looking at the
statistics of individuals indicted by
the ICC, Africans top the list; yet
around the world, we see a lot of
atrocities being committed in many
non-African countries, and the
perpetrators of these gruesome acts
are not subjected to the ICC legal
hammer. How do you justify your
indictment list, in view of this social
reality?
Bensouda: If we consider
statistics, then let us never forget
the victims: more than five million
African victims displaced, more
than 40,000 African victims
killed, thousands of African
children recruited to fight wars
and transformed into killers, and
thousands of African victims
raped. Atrocity crimes have been
committed in a number of African
states under the Court’s jurisdiction,
and those most responsible for such
crimes must be held accountable.
Of course, there is no doubt that
crimes of terrifying cruelty have or
are being committed against women,
men and children in countries
where no one is held responsible.
It’s important to understand that
my mandate is subject to a number
of legal limitations. A critical
restriction for my discretion to act as
Prosecutor is that the country where
atrocity crimes are committed has to
be a member of the ICC or that the
perpetrator must be a national of a
member state of the ICC.
Wherever the law gives us the power
to act, and victims need us, we will
not let them down. In Africa, no
less than six times, it is African
governments themselves who asked
the ICC to exercise its jurisdiction.
Africa represents the largest regional
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