ICC Opens Investigation in the Central African Republic

Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the ICC Prosecutor, announced today that he is opening a formal investigation into the situation in the Central African Republic. The Prosecutor’s decision marks the first time that the Court has investigated a situation in which sexual crimes against women outnumber — and significantly outnumber — killings:

The Office has analysed allegations of serious crimes perpetrated in CAR, in particular during the armed conflict of 2002-03. Some of the worst allegations relating to killing, looting and rape, occurred during intense fighting in October ­November 2002 and in February/March 2003. Attacks against civilians followed a failed coup attempt; there emerged a pattern of massive rapes and other acts of sexual violence perpetrated by armed individuals. Sexual violence appears to have been a central feature of the conflict.

A distinctive feature of the CAR situation is this high reported number of victims of rape­ at least 600 victims identified in a very short period of 5 months. The real numbers are likely higher as such acts are customarily underreported.

Credible reports indicate that rape has been committed against civilians, including instances of rape of elderly women, young girls and men. There were often aggravating aspects of cruelty such as rapes committed by multiple perpetrators, in front of third persons, with sometimes relatives forced to participate. The social impact appears devastating, with many victims stigmatized and, reportedly for a number of them, infected with the HIV virus.

The Prosecutor determined that, according to all the information available to the OTP, the alleged crimes, notably killings and large scale sexual crimes, were of sufficient gravity to warrant an investigation.

The crimes appear to have been largely committed in and around the capital city of Bangui, but also occurred in areas considerably beyond the capital.

The ICC willingness to investigate an African situation in which sexual crimes against women predominate is a significant departure from the ICTR, which has been severely criticized for ignoring such crimes. A 2005 occasional paper issued by the United Nations Research Institute for Social Development, for example, summarized the ICTR’s efforts — or lack thereof — as follows:

Throughout the Rwandan genocide, widespread sexual violence, directed predominantly against Tutsi women, occurred in every prefecture. Thousands of women were raped on the streets, at checkpoints, in cultivated plots, in or near government buildings, hospitals, churches, and other places where they sought sanctuary. Women were held individually and in groups as sexual slaves for the purpose of rape. They were raped to death using sharp sticks or other objects. Their dead bodies were often left naked, bloody and spread-eagled in public view. The hate propaganda before and during the genocide fuelled the sexual violence by demonizing Tutsi women’s sexuality.

Given the evidence and the crimes that the ICTR is tasked with prosecuting, virtually every defendant coming before this international court should be charged and convicted, where appropriate, for his role in perpetrating these acts, or for command responsibility in not preventing the acts of subordinates. Yet on the tenth anniversary of the Rwandan genocide, the ICTR had handed down 21 sentences: 18 convictions and 3 acquittals. An overwhelming 90 per cent of those judgements contained no rape convictions. More disturbingly, there were double the number of acquittals for rape than there were rape convictions. No rape charges were even brought by the Prosecutor’s Office in 70 per cent of those adjudicated cases. If the trend continues, full and fair justice for women victims of the Rwandan genocide appears increasingly unlikely before the ICTR.

Unlike in the Sudan, the CAR investigation should not lead to admissibility problems. The CAR government self-referred the situation to the ICC in 2004, and the CAR’s Court of Cassation concluded in 2006 that “in relation to the alleged crimes the national authorities were unable to carry out the necessary criminal proceedings, in particular to collect evidence and obtain the accused.”