18TH SESSION OF THE ASSEMBLY OF STATES PARTIES TO THE ROME STATUTE
Day 1 (2 December 2019)
Name of the Event: Side Event, The Hague Principles on Sexual Violence – Translating the lived experience of sexual violence survivors into law and policy
Overview by: Francisca De Castro, Junior Research Associate PILPG-NL
Main Highlights:
Call It What It Is campaign launched during the 17th ASP which developed The Hague Principles with help from the input of survivors.
The Hague Principles consist of three documents:
Civil Society Declaration on Sexual Violence
International Criminal Law Guidelines on Sexual Violence
Key Principles for Policy Makers on Sexual Violence
Important developments with regards to the prosecution of sexual crime, notably the Bosco Ntaganda Case.
The treatment of Sexual Violence must remain victim based
Summary of the Event:
The panel, moderated by Ms. Melinda Reed from the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, the hosts of the event touched upon the importance of a survivor-centric approach to sexual violence, as well as the importance of accountability and prosecution of sexual crimes.
Opening remarks were made by the Swedish Director-General for Legal Affairs H.E. Mr. Carl Magnus Nesser. He discussed Sweden’s feminist foreign policy launched in 2014 in response to the perceived systematic discrimination. This perspective has focused on ensuring that women can reach their rights through representation and resources based on their reality. In his view, perpetrators must be held accountable as impunity for sexual violence has important consequences for victims and their relatives. He addressed the importance of involving men and boys to combat gender related sexual violence. He emphasized the importance of strengthening the capacity of countries to bring perpetrators to justice, as well as facilitating the experience exchange when investigating and prosecuting crimes.
The Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda spoke about her office’s efforts in prosecuting sexual violence offenders, and the historic sentence delivered by ICC trial judges in the Bosco Ntaganda Case.
The Special Advisor on Gender to the Office of the Prosecution, Patricia Sellers highlighted the importance of jurisprudence in understanding sexual violence, as it means outlawing crimes that were previously taboo.
Furthermore, Toufah Jallow from the Toufah Foundation gave a poignant retelling of her experience as a survivor of sexual violence by an authoritarian leader. After having testified in the national truth commission, she has advocated for the usage of explicit language as to uncover the taboo surrounding sexual violence. She also urges to create a system of justice that is victim-centered and creating a safe space for victims, but also to consider these survivors as activists.
The panel continued with Mr. Wayne Jordash from Global Rights Compliance who set forward a series of questions that were to be posed when talking about sexual violence, and defining more effective measures. Some of these questions where touched upon in the Civil Society Declaration. He tackled some of the difficulties that have been encountered in the international prosecution of sexual violence, like the failure to prosecute Lubanga for sexual crimes.
ICC Judge Howard Morrisson then took the floor to make a statement on the challenges of judging cases of sexual violence. For one thing, the cultural consequences of these crimes have prevented victims from speaking out. But also, the cultural differences make it so that evidence is hard to obtain.
Finally, the panel was closed by remarks from the Ambassador of Australia to The Netherlands H.E. Mr. Matthew Neuhaus concluded by urging present delegations to support the accountability for gender based violence, particularly during the general debate.
The Hague Principles on Sexual Violence can be found here.