Women’s rights activists want the International Criminal Court (ICC) to help advance gender justice.

by David Rupiny, Kampala

Under their umbrella body, Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice (WIGJ), the women are asking for an enhancement of institutional gender capacity in judicial systems around the world, including the ICC, the inter-American Court of Human Rights, the European Court of Human Rights and the African Court on Human and People’s Rights.

In a strongly-worded call for action, the group is calling for urgent domestic and sexual violence laws in the countries where the ICC is currently conducting investigations, including Uganda, Sudan and the Central African Republic.

The laws, they say, should comply with Rome Statute standards and include situation-specific forms of violence against women that are not explicitly articulated in the definition of crimes in the Statute. The Sexual Violence Act and the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in the Democratic Republic of Congo must also be enforced, they say.

Gladys Oyat, a member of Greater North Women’s Voices for Peace, a part of the alliance, said women need assurance that the judicial system will effectively address issues of rape and other foms of gender-based violence.

Since there are norms and complications in the exposure and prosecution of sexual crimes, Oyat says, there is a need for a system that supports the victims and courts from a female perspective.

To invlove more women, Oyat wants to see improved communication channels to increase awareness of the posibilities under the Rome Stature in regard to sexual violence.

Her organisation is also asking for a significant increase in national and international resources and funding to support women’s rights and legal advocacy, as well as medical and psycho-social services to respond to gender-based violence.

From the ICC’s Trust Fund for Victims, the women are demanding a serious and significant increase in state and voluntary contributions to the fund and the development by the ICC judges of gender-inclusive, victim-centred guidelines on reparations for victims before the Court.

The women also want the investigation and prosecution of sex trafficking cases and prosecution of domestic labour and sexual slavery cases by the ICC.

Priority must be given, they say, for advancing gender justice through peace processes, such as the appointment by the UN of a woman as a chief mediator during 2011, the development of gender benchmarks and education and gender training for mediators, among others.

The women have expressed their particular disappointment with the non-confirmation of sexual crimes against some indicted persons including sexual slavery, rape constituting a crime against humanity, rape constituting a war crime, and many others.