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RDC: Sexual Violence used as Weapon of War; Strong call from Congolese Activits to Prosecute Sexual Crimes; New Release by IWPR

11 Dec 2007

Dear All,

Please find below our digest on the International Criminal Court's
investigation in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).

This message includes information on a UN report informing that sexual
violence is used 'brutally and systematically' asa weapon of war in the
Democratic Republic of Congo; a strong call from Congolese activists who
launched an appeal - in occasion of the Human Rights Day- at the
International Criminal Court (ICC) to prosecute those in their country who
use rape as a weapon of war; and a new release by Institute for War and
Peace Reporting on the situation in North Kivu.

Please also take note of the Coalition's policy on situations before the ICC
(below), which explicitly states that the CICC will not take a position on
current situations before the Court or situations under analysis. The
Coalition, however, will continue to provide the most up-to-date information
about the ICC. Also, kindly note that informal translation from the French
that follow are unofficial and should not be used for quoting in any
official document.

With regards,

CICC Communications
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I. UN SAYS CIVILIANS IN CONGO FACE RAPE AND TORTURE

i. “Congo: civilians routinely face rape and torture, UN says,” IPS, 30 Nov
2007
http://www.globalinfo.org/eng/login.asp?ReturnPath=/eng/reader.asp?ArticleId=54613

“Sexual violence is being used brutally and systematically as a weapon of
war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to humanitarian workers
and U.N. experts, and the international community has done little to stop
these abuses.

‘I was in total shock when I went there,’ said the U.N.'s long-time special
rapporteur on violence against women, Yakin Erturk.

… ‘A leap of imagination is not always easy, sitting in this warm and
comfortable chamber, but let us remember the essential background,’ [UN’s
Emergency Relief Coordinator John] Holmes said in his statement.

He said rapes and sexual abuse are being committed with unprecedented
cruelty, and the perpetrators have devised humiliating and degrading acts to
inflict on their victims. A large number of rapes occur in public places and
in the presence of witnesses. Four types of rape have been identified:
individual rape, gang rape, rape in which victims are forced to rape each
other and rape involving objects being inserted into the victims' genitals.
In many cases, some rape victims are tortured and others are murdered.

Holmes and Ban proposed the establishment of a Security Council working
group on the protection of civilians that would report to and assist the
council in moving decisively toward action, including the creation of
special courts to try the perpetrators of sexual violence.
‘Combating sexual violence, and the impunity on which it thrives, requires a
[rethinking] of how we use the tools of the international community and, in
particular, the Security Council,’ Holmes said.

‘We need for instance, to look at referring situations of grave incidents of
rape and other forms of sexual violence to the International Criminal Court’
in The Hague, he said.

He also suggested imposing targeted sanctions against governments and
nonstate armed groups that flagrantly perpetrate or support such crimes….”

ii. “Congo: civilians routinely face rape and torture, U.N. Says,” Inter
Press Service, 30 Nov 2007
[Link not available]

“Sexual violence is being used brutally and systematically as a weapon of
war in the Democratic Republic of Congo, according to humanitarian workers
and U.N. experts, and the international community has done little to stop
these abuses.

Earlier this month, U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and John Holmes, the
U.N.'s emergency relief coordinator, once again briefed the Security Council
on the dire situation of civilians living in conflict zones, in particular
the ongoing sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo.

….’We need for instance, to look at referring situations of grave incidents
of rape and other forms of sexual violence to the International Criminal
Court’ in The Hague, he said.

…. However, after eight hours of impassioned testimony and speeches, the
Security Council failed to act on the proposals, instead reiterating a
previous statement on ‘the need to end impunity for such acts as part of a
comprehensive approach to seeking peace, justice, truth and national
reconciliation…..”

II. CALL TO PUNISH RAPE AS A WEAPON OF WAR

i. “Punish rape as weapon of war,” The Times (South Africa), 11 Dec 2007
http://www.thetimes.co.za/News/Article.aspx?id=657980

“Congolese activists have launched an appeal at the International Criminal
Court (ICC) to prosecute those in their country who use rape as a weapon of
war.

"Why does the ICC judge (militia chief) Thomas Lubanga for enrolment of
child soldiers, but not for committing sexual crimes?" said Chouchou
Namegabe, who represents 50 human rights groups in eastern Democratic
Republic of Congo (DRC).

‘This comes as a real shock for Congolese women,’ she said from the court’s
home in The Hague on the occasion of Human Rights Day yesterday.

Lubanga is a Congolese militia chief from the troubled northern Ituri region
who was the first DR Congo prisoner at the ICC. Another militia chief from
the region, Germain Katanga, is also held by the court.

‘The ICC defines rape as a crime of war and a crime against humanity,’ said
lawyer Jolly Kamuntu, based in Bukavu in the eastern Sud-Kivu province.

‘It has the jurisdiction to arrest the big fish...who are in power today. It
is not the Congolese government that will arrest them.

‘If they are punished, this would intimidate the militias on the ground and
give relief to the whole community living through this trauma...we have
testimony from victims which will enable us to blame Lubanga and
Katanga’…..”

ii. “Rights groups from Africa, Asia protest in The Hague about rape, other
offenses,” San Diego.com, 11 Dec 2007
http://www.signonsandiego.com/news/world/20071210-0910-netherlands-humanrights.html

“Militias and foreign fighters are using rape as a weapon of war in lawless
eastern Congo, activists said Monday, calling on the International Criminal
Court to investigate sex crimes in the country.

‘The number of victims of sexual violence continues to increase each day and
the cruelty used during the rapes exceeds any understanding,’ said Chouchou
Namegabe, a journalist from the South Kivu province of eastern Congo,
speaking on international Human Rights Day.

‘But the international community is silent on this issue and the Congolese
government does nothing to end this crime against humanity,’ she said.

Namegabe was representing a group of non-governmental groups that appealed
to the Hague-based international court – the world's first permanent war
crimes tribunal – to do more to investigate rapes in Congo….”

III. ICC: CALL FOR INVESTIGATION IN NORTH KIVU

“DRC: ICC North Kivu Probe Urged,” by Lisa Clifford for Institute for War
and Peace Reporting, 29 Nov 2007
http://iwpr.net/?p=acr&s=f&o=341009&apc_state=henh

Also available in French “La CPI exhortée à enquêter au Nord Kivu,” at
http://iwpr.net/?apc_state=henfacr341009&l=fr&s=f&o=341009 and in Arabic at
http://iwpr.net/?apc_state=henfacr341009&l=ar&s=f&o=341009

“Huddled in a rain-drenched football stadium in the Rutshuru district of
North Kivu province, some of those driven from their homes by recent battles
between rebel groups told IWPR that international justice has so far passed
them by.

‘[The International Criminal Court, ICC] forgot us,’ said Laurent who has
lived in an abandoned building next to the stadium since October when he
fled his village following an attack by troops loyal to the dissident Tutsi
general Laurent Nkunda.

The ICC has so far launched cases against two Congolese militia leaders. But
Thomas Lubanga and Germain Katanga are from Ituri not North Kivu where
fighting since last December has displaced around 400,000 people, more than
160,000 in the last two months alone, according to the United Nations.

The UN says there are now around 800,000 IDPs (Internally Displaced Persons)
in North Kivu, in the east of the Democratic Republic of Congo, DRC.

‘We hear people talking about the ICC at The Hague. But that’s for Ituri,’
said one NGO worker in Rutshuru who is helping those who have been forced
out of their homes by the fighting. ‘Let them investigate here. We can show
them mass graves. We can show them what is happening here.’

The ICC insists North Kivu is very much on its radar, but that’s little
comfort for those on the ground in Rutshuru – north of the provincial
capital Goma – where those fleeing the fighting continue to flood in and
conditions are grim.[…]

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CICC's policy on the referral and prosecution of situations before the ICC:

The Coalition for the ICC is not an organ of the court. The CICC is an
independent NGO movement dedicated to the establishment of the International
Criminal Court as a fair, effective, and independent international
organization. The Coalition will continue to provide the most up-to-date
information about the ICC and to help coordinate global action to
effectively implement the Rome Statute of the ICC. The Coalition will also
endeavor to respond to basic queries and to raise Awareness about the ICC's
trigger mechanisms and procedures, as they develop. The Coalition as a
whole, and its secretariat, do not endorse or promote specific
investigations or prosecutions or take a position on situations before the
ICC or situations under analysis. However, individual CICC members may
endorse referrals, provide legal and other support on investigations, or
develop partnerships with local and other organizations in the course of
their efforts.

Communications to the ICC can be sent to:
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The Netherlands