By Tara Pistorese
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

KINSHASA, Democratic Republic of the Congo—Since 1996, approximately 500,000 people in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) have fallen victim to sexual violence according to United Nations (UN) estimates. Although UN members and the Security Council have condemned the sexually motivated injustice, the sufferers of these violent crimes are often stigmatized by their own communities and rarely see their attackers brought to justice.

“As violence escalates in the eastern [DRC], I am deeply concerned that sexual violence is once again a pattern of the conflict,” said the acting Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Vijay Nambiar, in a statement. “In the context of illegal activities of armed groups, serious crimes have been reported.”

A lack of funding and issues of integrity have contributed to the overall failure to bring many perpetrators of these crimes to justice in DRC. Moreover, many victims are unable to reach a police station or afford the costs of bringing a case to trial.

Specifically, in South Kivu in 2005, fewer than 142 of incidents of sexual violence faced a tribunal, although 14,200 were recorded that year. Similar failures have surfaced within DRC’s national courts, although the Ituri district boasts some progress, including ten recent rape convictions.

In an effort to curb judicial shortcomings, a project was initiated in South Kivu in 2009 whereby mobile courts travel from city to city to bring justice to the victims of sexual violence. The mobile gender courts—supported by the Open Society Justice Initiative, the American Bar Association Rule of Law Initiative, and the Open Society Institute for Southern Africa in collaboration with the Congolese government—have emphasized locally-led justice.

The project has enjoyed considerable success. Within the first twenty months of its existence, fourteen court sessions took place, 248 cases were tried, and 140 perpetrators were convicted of rape. Mobile courts have held sessions in many cities and villages from urban regions, such Baraka and Bakavu, to more remote villages, like Kamituga and Mwenga.

However, limitations on the mobile courts call their sustainability and effectiveness into question. The itinerant agencies often require staff to travel by plane and automobile very far distances and through difficult terrain to reach remote service areas. Sadly, the courts also lack funding for basic and necessary equipment and supplies, such as paper.

Mobile trials typically last two weeks, in compliance with international law requiring crimes of this nature to conclude within three months. Additionally, this timeline provides “timely redress to individual victims in communities still struggling with the chaotic aftermath of war and political upheaval,” according to Judge Mary McGowan Davis, who was recently invited to assess the productivity of the mobile courts. On the other hand, the speed of the trials and their conclusions make important components of an effective trial, such as obtaining witnesses, very difficult.

The court sessions, which are exclusively staffed by Congolese citizens, are typically made open to the public in an effort to break down the stigma surrounding victims of sexual crimes.

 

For further information, please see:

All Africa—Africa: Mobile Gender Courts-Delivering Justice in the DRC—30 July 2012

UN News Centre—UN Official Condemns Sexual Violence by Renegade Soldiers—18 July 2012

News 24—UN Condemns Eastern DRC Attacks—17 July 2012

Open Society Initiative for Southern Africa—Helping to Fight Impunity for Sexual Crimes in DRC—7 May 2012

 

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

 DAKAR, Senegal – On Tuesday, July 24, 2012, Senegal and the African Union (AU) reached a preliminary agreement on how they intend to try former Chadian dictator, Hissène Habré, who is accused of committing war crimes during his rule from 1982 to 1990.

After four days of deliberations in Dakar, AU and Senegalese government representatives drew a draft agreement on the creation of a special court in Senegal to try Habré.  Such “extraordinary African chambers” shall be incorporated “within the Senegalese court structure,” says Amadou Baal, director of the justice minister’s office.  The chambers will be divided into four sections depending on their functions, namely, instruction, investigations, trials, and appeals. Each chamber will consist of Senegalese and African judges.

Proceedings against Habré are tentatively scheduled to commence by the end of 2012 according to Senegal President Macky Sall. Baal, however, clarified that the proposal is still subject to final approval.

The deal between the AU and Senegal comes a few days after the International Court of Justice (ICJ) at The Hague, Netherlands, ruled unanimously that Senegal must either prosecute the former dictator for war crimes or extradite him “without further delay.”

The ICJ order was a response to Belgium’s request to prosecute Habré.

A lower court in Dakar has already charged Habré in February 2000, but an appeals court overturned this decision on the ground that Senegalese courts lacked jurisdiction to try crimes that were perpetrated in another country. Belgium, citing the decision of the appeals court as a form of procedural delay, brought the matter to the ICJ and sought to have Habré extradited to face charges in Belgium instead.

Habré ruled Chad for 7 years until he was overthrown in 1990. He was then sent into exile in Senegal.

His regime was marked by repression and systematic targeting of ethnic groups such as the Sara, Hadjerai and the Zaghawa. A 1992 truth commission report said that he presided over up to 40,000 political murders and widespread torture of members of these ethnic groups perceived to be a threat to Habré’s government.

Despite these allegations, Habré has been living a quiet life in the suburbs of Dakar as courts and governments have tussled over who should try him for atrocities.

“Senegal made history in 1999 as the first country to join the International Criminal Court, and it could make history again by being the first country to prosecute the human rights crimes of a foreign leader,” said Alioune Tine, president of the African Assembly for the Defense of Human Rights.

 

For further information, please see:

Huffington Post – Hissene Habré Trial: Senegal, African Union Reach Deal on Trying Ex-Chadian Dictator – 25 July 2012

All Africa – Chad: Agreement on Habré Court – After World Court Ruling, Plan to Try Chad’s Ex-Dictator in Senegal with African Judges – 24 July, 2012

Star Africa – AU, Senegal Agree on Special Court to Try Habré – 24 July 2012

All Africa – Chad: UN World Court Rules Senegal Must Prosecute Ex-Chadian Leader oe Extradite Him – 20 July 2012

BBC – Profile Chad’s Hissene Habré – 20 July 2012

By Tara Pistorese
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

MONROVIA, Liberia—Charles Taylor and his defense team are appealing the April conviction and fifty-year sentence Taylor received from The Hague for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

Taylor, 64, was arrested in March 2006 and found guilty in April of this year for aiding and abetting what the International Court termed “some of the most heinous crimes in human history.”

Finding Taylor guilty of eleven counts of arming rebels with blood diamonds, the Court determined that Taylor had been paid in diamonds mined in areas under the control of Sierra Leone’s Revolutionary United Front rebels.

The rebels were responsible for murdering, raping, and mutilating their victims, forcing children to fight, and keeping sex slaves during the war with Sierra Leone that claimed approximately 120,000 lives.

Taylor’s sentence was the first to be committed by the International Court since the Nuremberg Nazi trials in 1946.

According to Taylor’s defense team, the former Liberian President will be appealing because the Court made “systematic errors” in evaluating evidence, and relied on “uncorporated” hearsay as the sole basis for specific incriminating findings of fact.

“Charles Taylor respectfully requests that the appeals chamber reverse all the findings of guilty and [the] conviction entered against him and vacate the judgment,” Taylor’s defense counsel announced.

Similarly, the prosecution plans to appeal the Special Court’s decision to acquit Taylor of more serious charges. Prosecutors will also call on the Court to extend Taylor’s sentence to the originally requested eighty-year term.

Two separate bills were recently introduced in the Liberian House of Representatives seeking to establish a war crimes court there. However, Senior Senator and Taylor’s ex-wife Jewell Howard-Taylor has publicly opposed the bills.

“Given the level of sufferings our people faced during the terrible days of wars and even now, I think the best option is not establishing war crimes court, but the creation of employment opportunities where Liberians can [fend] for themselves,” Senator Taylor said.

“My position is clear, I am not supporting the culture of impunity, but war crimes court at this time is not healthy for [our] democracy.”

For further information, please see:

AFP—Liberia’s Taylor Appeals War Crime Conviction—19 July 2012

AllAfrica—Liberia: Sen. Taylor-Rejects War Crimes Court—19 July 2012

Deutsche Welle—Liberia’s Charles Taylor Appeals War Crimes Conviction—19 July 2012

NineMSN—Taylor Appeals War Crimes Conviction—20 July 2012

By Ryan Aliman
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania – Protesters gathered in the Mauritanian capital on Sunday demanding the release of seven anti-slavery activists who have been detained, the end of ‘arbitrary imprisonment’, and the end of slavery in Saharan nation.

Sources say the seven detained activists were arrested on April 29 after burning Islamic books purportedly providing a religious justification for the practice of slavery.  The books were Sunni Maliki books. The Movement for Justice and Equality in Mauritania (EJEM) said the activists burned Islamic books but not copies of the Holy Quran.

The recent protests have been largely peaceful. However, the protesters were met with violent crackdowns by security forces, said Saidou Wane, an activist with the MJEM.

Wane told reporters that “the Arab Spring inspired a lot of activists in Mauritania and showed us everything is possible.”

The west African country is a conservative society historically ruled by the Moors. During their rule, the Moors enslaved the black African ethnic group known as the Haratine.

Today, an estimated 10% to 20% of Mauritania’s 3.4 million people are enslaved — in “real slavery,” according to the United Nations’ special rapporteur on contemporary forms of slavery, Gulnara Shahinian.

Officially, Mauritania abolished slavery in 1981, making it punishable by six years of imprisonment. But the practice still exists. It wasn’t until five years ago, in 2007, that Mauritania passed a law that criminalized the act of owning another person. So far, only one case has been successfully prosecuted.

Slave masters in Mauritania exercise full ownership over their slaves. They can send them away at will, and it is common for a master to give away a young slave as a wedding present.

Most slave families in Mauritania consist of dark-skinned people whose ancestors were captured by lighter-skinned Arab Berbers centuries ago. Slaves typically are not bought and sold — only given as gifts, and bound for life. Their children automatically become slaves as well.

Some slave owners who no longer need a slave’s help send the servants away to slave-only villages in the countryside. They check on them only occasionally or employ informants who make sure the slaves tend to the land and don’t leave it.

Despite the recent arrests, other anti-slavery activists remain undeterred. They continue to rally to end the practice and to bring the issue to the attention of the international community. At the 2012 Global Media Forum held in Bonn, Germany, Brahim Bilal Ebeid, the vice-president of the anti-slavery group, Initiative for the Resurgence of the Abolitionist Movement told the forum that Mauritania needs all the help it can get and that there are times when even the media is no safe recourse for Mauritania’s slaves.

 

For further information, please see:

AfriqueJet – Mauritanian Opposition Accuses Pro-Government Radio of Encouraging Slavery – 19 July 2012

New Internationalist – Slavery Still Widespread in Mauritania – 16 July 2012

Daily News Egypt – Mauritanians Demand Abolition of Slavery – 10 July 2012

BBC News Africa – Mauritania Slave Activist Biram Ould Obeidi Charged – 31 May 2012

CNN – Slavery’s Last Stronghold – 11 March 2012

By Tara Pistorese
Impunity Watch Reporter, Africa

BAMAKO, Mali—The Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) has called for the formation of a Malian “national unity government” in light of present humanitarian disaster.

Led by Captain Amadou Sanogo, the National Movement for the Liberation of Azawad (MNLA), a largely Tuareg rebel group, staged a coup d’état on March 22, ousting former President Amadou Toumani Toure one month before elections were to take place. The Islamist group, Ansar Dine, meaning “Defenders of Faith,” soon joined the rebellion.

The coup was internationally condemned by the United Nations Security Council, the African Union, and ECOWAS, among others.  After facing considerable regional and international pressure, the rebels agreed to relinquish power over the area to a civilian government. However, the coup stagers have retained substantial influence in the northern parts of the country.

The instability of the current interim government, led by President Dioncounda Traore, has alarmed the international community, especially considering of the eighteen million people presently at risk of starvation and one million children facing immediate danger.

In May, President Traore sustained injuries after a group of coup supporters attacked him in his office. He has been treated in Paris, France and has not returned to Mali since the incident. The rebel alliance, too, has recently ruptured as Islamist fighters reportedly chased Tuareg rebels out of several northern towns.

Last week, Islamist fighters invaded cemeteries housing the remains of Sufi Saints of Timbuktu, a city listed on the World Heritage List by the United Nations Educational, Scientific, and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) as one of particular international significance.

The rebels, who believed the memorial to be inconsistent with Islamic law, methodically destroyed the six of the most famous tombs, an attack that may be considered a “war crime” by the International Criminal Court (ICC).

“The destruction of historical sites is outrageous,” said UN Deputy Secretary General Jan Eliasson. “Extremist groups and criminal networks are spreading rampant fear and insecurity. Weapons are being [trafficked] over porous borders.”

Earlier this month, six West Africa leaders met in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso and, after considering the crisis in northern Mali, identified strategies for Malian authorities to implement as a “roadmap to end the crisis.”

Although leaders of the Ivory Coast, Niger, Togo, Benin, and Nigeria, attended the meeting, the interim Malian President and the nation’s Prime Minister, Cheikh Modibo Diarra, whose relations with ECOWAS have been strained, were absent. In a similar vein, a number of northern representatives walked out just prior to the opening of the meeting for unknown reasons.

While some blame the President’s nonattendance on the attack suffered in May, others believe his failure to report had more to do with his perceptions of Mali.

In addition to the formation of a new regime, ECOWAS and the United Nations (UN) has urged Malian leaders to end the political strife in Mali by July 31, before the Ramadan Muslim month of fasting. According to ECOWAS, failure to do so will result in Mali’s suspension from sub-regional groups and forfeiture of ECOWAS recognition.

Furthermore, ECOWAS has encouraged President Traore to request the deployment of ECOWAS forces to restore order to the area. ECOWAS has approximately 3,300 troops ready to enter the conflict zone.

“[The leaders] are asking the ICC to proceed with necessary investigations to identify those responsible for war crimes and to take the necessary action against them,” read a statement issued by ECOWAS.

However, in a telephone conversation from an undisclosed location in northern Mali, a representative told Al Jazeera that Ansar Dine did not recognize either the UN or the ICC.

 

 

For further information, please see:

Xinhuanet—Leaders at AU Summit Express Deep Concern with Crisis in Mali, DR Congo—15 July 2012

Al Jazeera—ECOWAS Call on ICC Over “War Crimes” in Mali—7 July 2012

BBC News: Africa—Mali Interim Government Urged by ECOWAS—7 July 2012

Raw Story—West African Presidents Urge War Crimes Probe in Mali—7 July 2012