Author: Communication Department

Compensation for victims of war crimes is possible, as four recent examples in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) have shown. But only if prosecutors’ offices, courts and legal aid providers, dedicatedly work on this matter. The story of N., a wartime rape survivor, illustrates the many challenges of seeking justice.

“Compensation is important in the economic sense, but also it is just as important for future generations in order that these types of crimes do not happen again. The possibility of compensation gives victims more confidence to go forward and to fight for justice to the end.” said K, survivor of sexual violence.

TRIAL International had repeatedly pointed out that most perpetrators of wartime sexual violence had still not fulfilled their obligation to pay compensation ordered by judgments in criminal proceedings. Payment of these reparations is significant for victims of war crimes, including survivors of wartime sexual violence. This story of N, a wartime rape survivor, is a case in point.

RAPE SURVIVOR FINALLY COMPENSATED AFTER 20 YEARS

After being raped in 1992, N waited over 20 years for justice for the crime she survived. Now she hopes that her story will encourage others in their fight for justice, truth and reparation.

“After so many years, I did not expect anything, given this situation. While seeking justice, I gave statements on numerous occasions. After 20 years, he was sentenced to prison and ordered to pay compensation. It means a lot to me that they imprisoned him, but it also means a great deal to me that they have ordered him to pay the compensation. Although it is a minimal amount, in this way he can at least fell the sufferings that we have felt. “, said N.

During her fight for justice, she was supported primarily by her family, but also by TRIAL International. She first contacted the organization in 2014, hoping that those responsible for the crimes committed against her will finally get prosecuted. In addition to the support of TRIAL International, the survivor was represented by the Office for Free Legal Aid at the Ministry of Justice of BiH when filing a compensation claim, making her case among the first that the Office has worked on and making her one of the first survivors to benefit from this free aid.

In 2016, TRIAL International successfully introduced an amendment to the State Law on Free Legal Aid which led to the possibility for victims to receive free legal aid by the Ministry of Justice of Bih in regard to compensation claims. Read the full article to know more about it.

Five years later, after more than two decades of waiting for justice, the perpetrator was finally sentenced to prison and ordered to pay compensation for her physical and mental suffering.

In her words, “Their support was important to me during the trial, they tried to inform me about everything, let me know about all my rights. They gave me an additional strength, so that it was clear to me I had some form of protection, that I could exercise my rights, that I had to be persistent.”

A JOINT ENDEAVOUR

Prosecutors’ offices, courts, legal aid providers and victims’ representatives must use all available measures to ensure that compensation is awarded in criminal proceedings, and that it is eventually paid by perpetrators. To do so, prosecutors should inform victims of this possibility in a timely manner. Psychiatric examination of the harm that was caused to the victims should be routine.

Furthermore, as part of the investigation, the financial situation of the perpetrators / accused should be assessed in order to secure a claim, which facilitates the later collection of awarded compensation. In case that the perpetrator is insolvent, the state should take the responsibility for paying the compensation awarded to survivors.

Read the full article

Despite the pandemic and its impact, international justice did not come to a halt in 2020. After publishing the Universal Jurisdiction Annual Review (UJAR), TRIAL International has organized a webinar to provide an overview of this essential legal tool. Take (another) look at the cases that defined 2020 together with panelists from partner organizations that helped shape the UJAR 2021.

What do Switzerland, Germany, France and the United Kingdom have in common? In 2020, they all continued their efforts to pursue international war criminals on their soil. On June 8 at 6pm CET, TRIAL International held a webinar, called FILLING ACCOUNTABILITY GAP: HOW IS UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION PART OF THE SOLUTION?, to provide an overview of the past year’s most infamous cases as regards universal jurisdiction in the four countries. Experts from Civitas Maxima, CJA, ECCHR, FIDH, REDRESS joined TRIAL International for a comparative round up of universal jurisdiction in 2020.

Each panelist talked about the prosecuting bodies in the country where they work before focusing on one case that has seen significant developments over the past year. Our guests were Emmanuelle Marchand from the Swiss NGO Civitas Maxima, Carmen Cheung, Executive Director at the Center for Justice & Accountability, an NGO based in the US, Yaroslavna Sychenkova from the German NGO ECCHR, Clémence Bectarte from the NGO FIDH based in France, and Charlie Loudon from the British NGO REDRESS. Philip Grant, Executive Director, and Valérie Paulet, Editor of the UJAR and Legal Consultant, spoke on behalf of TRIAL International and explored ways forward for universal jurisdiction in Europe and the United States.

The webinar took place on June 8, 2021 at 6pm CET. The discussion was held in English and has not be translated. If you would still like to watch the webinar, the recording is available on YouTube at the following address:

>>> WATCH THE WEBINAR <<<

For years, TRIAL International and its partners in Nepal have demanded that international decisions translate into real change for victims and their families. To disseminate their claim and ensure information is widely shared, they have put together an online database of individual cases that have been litigated to date.

In 2016, TRIAL International and its partners launched Real Rights Now, a campaign to push for the implementation of the UN Human Rights Committee’s (HRC) decisions on human rights violations in Nepal. After several years, the demands remain the same but the needs have changed. The Real Rights Now website has adapted and became a database of the cases on which the HRC has issued decisions but have not, to this day, materialized into concrete change for the victims.

Sharing information to push for change

The Real Rights Now database is a central point of reference – in both Nepali and English – where all HRC decisions concerning gross human rights violations in Nepal are easily accessible. It is also the only database providing information on the cases’ follow-up after HRC decisions. “The content was developed with Nepali lawyers, decision-makers, students and journalists in mind. Our aim is to share the information as widely as possible to push the Nepalese authorities to investigate the cases, prosecute the perpetrators and provide reparation to the victims” explains Cristina Cariello, Head of the Nepal program at TRIAL International.

While some contents are purely legal, the Real Rights Now database strives to be as understandable and accessible as possible. In addition to case details, it also includes general information on the HRC’s functioning, victims’ testimonies and an overview of the implementation status.

A collaborative and long-termed approach

Five NGOs have pooled together their information on these cases and the implementation of HRC decisions: TRIAL International, REDRESS, Advocacy Forum, Juri-Nepal launched the original campaign in 2016, and were joined in 2018 by the Human Rights and Justice Centre, TRIAL International’s sister organization in Katmandu. The database’s management is now the responsibility of the HJRC and TRIAL International, who have also overseen its revamp.

“Real Rights Now reflects our belief that advocacy is a joint effort” says Ranjeeta Silwal, Human Rights Coordinator at the Human Rights and Justice Centre. “Beyond the sharing of information to ensure the database was as complete as possible, all partners believe that we can only achieve change by speaking with a single voice.”  

NGOs also join forces in other efforts to translate HRC decisions into actions, such as bringing together government officials to understand and define their responsibilities, arranging meetings between victims and government officials, media outreach, updating the HRC and publishing policy papers and reports.

Salina Kafle, Human Rights Officer at the HRJC concludes: “Our objectives are long-termed and we call for structural change. We are saddened by the authorities’ lack of action, but we are determined to keep on fighting with the victims on the cases.”

Find out more about TRIAL International’s work in Nepal

Find out more about the Human Rights and Justice Centre in Katmandu

Since March 2021, the Criminal Procedure Code of the Republika Srpska prohibits presenting evidence of the victim’s sexual conduct after the facts. The provision is a new step forward to reducing the stigma imposed on survivors of conflict-related sexual violence, by muzzling attempts to shift some of the blame onto survivors by depicting them as promiscuous.

The decision went almost unnoticed, yet the change that one of the two entities within Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Republika Srpska, introduced to its Criminal Procedure Code in early March 2021 is far from negligible. Courts that deal with cases of sexual violence are now banned from presenting evidence of the victim’s sexual conduct after the facts.

TRIAL International and its partners welcome the decision, having called on the Republika Srpska to adopt the provision since 2018. “There is no place for stigma and stereotypes in courts,” said Lamija Tiro, legal adviser at TRIAL International. “We will continue to fight for these changes to be applied, both at state level and at the levels of the Federation of BiH and the Brcko District.”

Different territories, different legislation

Since the war ended and the Dayton Peace Agreement was signed in 1995, Bosnia and Herzegovina has been a federal state divided into two main entities that are deeply polarized around their inhabitants’ ethnicity: the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina on the one hand and the Republika Srpska on the other. Each entity has its own parliament, and laws that apply to their respective territories. Naturally, this means that they have two separate Codes of Criminal Procedure, which are not necessarily the same in all respects. A third and smaller entity, the Brčko district, was created in 2000, out of land from both entities. It officially belongs to both, but is governed by neither.

The war’s victims include an estimated 20,000 women who have suffered rape or other forms of sexual violence. More than 25 years after the conflict ended, many survivors are yet to get justice. Courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina still regularly see cases linked to sexual violence suffered during the war.

Courts are gradually taking stigma into account

Until recently, several sexual violence cases involved defense lawyers attempting to shift the blame onto the victims by presenting details of their sexual lives. This practice is especially stigmatizing. It has traumatized survivors who have been subject to it, and violates international norms. As a sign of a gradual shift toward a less archaic vision, in the last two decades both entities have introduced provisions in their Criminal Procedure Codes that prohibit referring to the victim’s sexual conduct before the facts. The amendment introduced by the Republika Srpska is the next logical step, designed to avoid stigmatizing survivors.

Amending laws in Bosnia and Herzegovina is especially tedious because every step must be taken for each entity. In this particular case, TRIAL International began contacting the Ministry of Justice in the Republika Srpska as early as June 2018. In March 2019, a working group was set up to revise the entity’s Criminal Code. An initiative to conduct a similar revision of the Code of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina is underway.

Mr. Nandalal Chauhan belongs to marginalized Madhesi community of Nepal. Wrongly accused of entertaining Maoist sympathies, he was arrested and forcibly disappeared during the internal conflict. His case is not only an example of the wave of enforced disappearance by State forces, but also of the bitterness of victims’ relatives vis-à-vis Nepalese transitional justice bodies.

Mr. Nandalal Chauhan was arrested in February 2006 in Joganiya Chowk (district of Rupandehi). One morning, Mr. Nandalal was travelling on a bus to the neighboring town of Krishnanagar, in India. He was seeing two acquaintances off to Mumbai, planning to shop in Krishnanagar before returning to Nepal.

But he never did, as he was arrested in Joganiya Chowk by members of the Pratikar Samiti (literally, “retaliation or defense committee”). These groups were initially created as vigilantes against attacks by the Maoist guerrilla, but in some districts – including Rupendehi – they were responsible for serious human rights abuses against alleged Maoists.

Mr. Chauhan was forced to get off the bus and was beaten up. Two army officials who were drinking tea nearby inquired on the commotion, but upon learning from the Pratikar Samiti that Mr. Nandalal Chauhan was allegedly a Maoist, they actually arrested him and took him to an army camp.

About 15 days after his arrest, Mr. Chauhan was transferred to the Taulihawa district prison, from which he disappeared in the evening of 7 April 2006. According to the prison inmates, the army went to the prison on that day and took two prisoners with them, one of them being Mr. Chauhan. The fate and whereabouts of Mr. Chauhan remain unknown since then.

Trust in domestic mechanisms fades

Between 2006 and 2016, the family of the disappeared – and especially his brother, Mithailal Chauhan – waited for the formation of the Truth and Reconciliation Commission (TRC) in Nepal. Mithailal Chauhan believed that since he received interim relief from the government and his brother’s children received a scholarship, the government had acknowledged the enforced disappearance of his brother. He had hopes that and, once established, the TRC would unveil the truth on the fate and whereabouts of Nandalal, holding accountable those responsible and providing to the family adequate reparation.

However, nothing substantive has happened since the filing of their complaint, in 2016. Subsequently, Mr. Chauhan lost faith in the national TRC and has, with the help of TRIAL International and the Human Rights and Justice Centre, taken his case to the UN Working Group on Enforced or Involuntary Disappearances (WGEID) instead.

The case was submitted on 18 December 2020 to the Working Group on Enforced and Involuntary Disappearances and is currently pending.

Context

The case is emblematic of the enforced disappearances that took place during the internal armed conflict in Nepal from 1996-2006. In 2003 and 2004, Nepal was the country with the highest reported number of enforced disappearances in the world by the WGEID. To date, more than 1’300 people who, like Mr. Nandalal Chauhan, disappeared during the conflict are still registered as missing.

This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Quentin (real name withheld) belongs to a Burundian opposition party that has been targeted by the authorities. In 2014, during a party meeting, the Burundian police burst in and opened fire, deliberately wounding Quentin.

The next day, despite his clearly critical condition, Quentin was arrested. He was then beaten with rifle butts, boots, and clubs.

Even though Quentin was too weak to stand, the authorities insulted him and threatened him with death over a period of four hours, before finally taking him to the hospital.

The respite was short-lived. Before Quentin could fully recover, the authorities took him out of the hospital and put him in prison, where he remains to this day in inhumane and degrading conditions. As a result of the authorities’ continued refusal to provide adequate care, Quentin acquired an infection in his forearm that has left him partially paralyzed.

Litigation

Quentin filed a complaint about his mistreatment, and NGOs and media outlets investigated the case. Yet no investigation has been conducted by the Burundian authorities. Quentin’s torturers were never punished by the state.

In 2016, TRIAL International filed a submission with an international human rights body, seeking formal recognition of and reparations for the human rights violations Quentin suffered. The case is currently pending.

Sakhi means friend in Nepalese, it is the pseudonym chosen by a young woman full of courage to share her story. Victim of sexual violence during the internal conflict that ravaged Nepal during 10 years, she has been fighting for several years to obtain justice and reparations. In vain.   

Sakhi, an orphan from the disadvantaged Tharu ethnic group, was 13 years old when she was raped in 2001. While she was grazing her buffalo herd outside the village, two soldiers of the Royal Nepalese Army insulted her, accused her of being a Maoist and struck her on the head. When she regained consciousness several hours later, injured and undressed, the girl did not immediately understand what had happened to her.

It wasn’t until months later, at a local hospital, that the nurses realized she was pregnant. And so the child had to be made aware of what sexual intercourse, in this case non-consensual, was and what the consequences of pregnancy were. In addition to other health problems caused by the attack, including psychological ones, Sakhi had to pay for the medical expenses incurred by the abortion.

But once the medical emergency is over, how to obtain justice while an internal conflict tears the country apart?

A first step on the road to justice?

Years later, once the civil war was over and the transitional justice process had begun, Sakhi sought justice for the first time. Before the National Truth and Reconciliation Commission, she attempted to expose her case and to seek recognition of the suffering she endured.

She was unsuccessful. In addition to the multiple dysfunctions of the transitional justice mechanisms in Nepal, the Commission does not recognize survivors of sexual violence as victims of war.  Sakhi, like hundreds of other victims, did not receiving any form of redress and her case was not being investigated.

Yet conflict-related sexual violence is often a full-on military strategy. This is the case in Nepal, where several reports have documented the widespread use of sexual violence by both sides in the conflict.

The winding road of domestic jurisdictions

With the support of TRIAL International, every effort is being made to advance the case before domestic courts. “When I met Sakhi in 2018, her determination and resilience overwhelmed me. Jurisdiction after jurisdiction, we filed complaints, petitions, and requests for an investigation to be opened and the perpetrators apprehended” says Salina Kafle, Human Rights Coordinator at the Human Rights and Justice Centre (HRJC) in Katmandu, TRIAL International’s local partner.

But here again, a major obstacle hinders the path to justice: today in Nepal, a victim of sexual violence has only one year to file a complaint! This extremely short statute of limitations is yet another example of the shortcomings of Nepalese legislation in the area of sexual violence.

A solution at the international level?

Twenty years after the events, the suffering endured by Sakhi had still not been recognized, even though she still bears the after-effects on her body. Faced with the numerous obstacles encountered at the national level, a complaint was filed before the United Nations in 2020.

Today, TRIAL International and the HRJC continue to provide legal and medical assistance. They are fighting for an investigation and for Sakhi to obtain justice and reparation.

At the same time, TRIAL International calls upon Nepal to fulfill its international obligations. Noting the country’s inaction in this matter, the organization also proposes that the Human Rights Committee set up a follow-up procedure so that its recommendations are finally implemented.

On 9 February 2022, the UN Special Rapporteur on Sexual Violence (SRVAW) sent a communication to the Nepalese government on this case, as Nepal did not respond to her first enquiry.

Nsumbu Katende, a commander of the armed insurrection Kamuina Nsapu, was found guilty of war crimes committed in Kasai in 2017. TRIAL International welcomes this verdict, which not only establishes the guilt of the accused, but also grants reparations to victims and recognizes the responsibility of the Congolese State.

“Today is an important day for justice in Central Kasai” says Guy Mushiata, “The condemnation of Nsumbu Katende proves those who thought impunity in the region was a fatality were wrong. It also shows the victims that they can be heard and obtain justice.”

Read more about Nsumbu Katende and the Kamuina Nsapu insurrection

Several positive elements of the verdict deserve to be saluted. Firstly, the qualification of the murders, torture and kidnapping as war crimes. This acknowledgment is testimony to the scale of the violence, and to its organized and systematic nature. Secondly, the judges granted reparations to all registered victims in the case – over 200. A symbolically meaningful gesture, but also a concrete way for survivors to rebuild their live.

Finally, even though Nsumbu Katende commanded an armed group, the Congolese State was also found responsible for the crimes. The judges considered that it had not done everything in its power to protect the civil population.

A first victory that could herald future ones

“For the first case brought in Kasai by TRIAL International and its partners, we are extremely satisfied” says Daniele Perissi, Head of the Great Lakes program at TRIAL International. “Today the magistrates of the Military Tribunal of Kananga have risen to the challenge of this complex case, leading us to hope that more victories against impunity will follow.”

A long-haul effort towards which TRIAL International works with other actors in the region as parts of a Collaboration Network.

Find out more about the case against Nsumbu Katende

TRIAL International collaborates in Kasai with Physicians for Human Rights, an NGO using medical evidence to document human rights abuses. Their joint project in Kasai aims to strengthen access to justice through a combination of legal and medical expertise. This project is generously funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida.

The session of the Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission on the massacre of 59 migrants from eight West African countries has come to an end on 11 March 2021 in The Gambia. The testimonies that succeeded in recent weeks have revealed new elements, but also confirmed existing information, further strengthening the ties between former President Yahya Jammeh and these murders. Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International support the process to ensure that the former president – in exile in Equatorial Guinea since his departure from The Gambia in January 2017 – is held accountable.

From February 24 to March 11, witnesses told the Gambian Truth, Reconciliation and Reparations Commission (TRRC) that the migrants from Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Ghana, Liberia, Nigeria, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo, who were bound for Europe, plus their Gambian contact, were held in the custody of Jammeh’s top officials in the security services and that most were then murdered by the “Junglers,” a notorious unit that took its orders directly from Jammeh.

“Well-placed witnesses have implicated Yahya Jammeh in killing citizens from nine West African countries,” said Reed Brody, counsel at Human Rights Watch. “All those countries should support a criminal investigation and, if warranted, the prosecution of Jammeh and others who bear the greatest responsibility for the massacre of the migrants and other serious crimes by his government.”

THE COURSE OF EVENTS MADE CLEARER

During their 2018 investigation, TRIAL International and Human Rights Watch were able to gather a great deal of information on the massacre. Never before had this information been publicly exposed or told “in one go”.

The exact number of migrants killed is still unclear. The former director of operations at the NIA presented the TRRC with a list of 51 migrants the police counted at one police station. In addition to the names presented in the first official list, the group also included other migrants, including eight Nigerians believed to have been arrested and killed.

INVESTIGATIONS AT A STANDSTILL

Testimony at the TRRC also described the persistent efforts made to cover up the crime, especially in advance of a 2008 investigative mission by the United Nations and the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) when the government appointed a “task force” that included several cabinet ministers to deal with the investigators.

See the graphic illustrating the attempts to investigate the massacre

The TRRC testimony corroborates the findings of a 2018 report by Human Rights Watch and TRIAL International, who interviewed 30 former Gambian officials. “Now that the information we had gathered has been corroborated, it’s s all the more important for Jammeh to be called to face up to his responsibilities”, said Emeline Escafit, Legal Advisor at TRIAL International. “The time has now come to deliver justice for the victims and their families”.

The TRRC, which will deliver its report in July 2021 is tasked with the “identification and recommendation for prosecution of persons who bear the greatest responsibility for human rights violations and abuses.” The Gambian government then must decide how to respond to the recommendations.

Read the full press release

This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

Geneva, 10 March 2021. The first trial brought by TRIAL International opens today in Central Kasai (Democratic Republic of the Congo). In a region regularly described as lawless, where impunity is the norm, the trial of two militiamen accused of international crimes sends a clear message: the road ahead is long, but justice can prevail.

In the spring of 2017, several villages in the territory of Kazumba (Central Kasai) were attacked by a militia with ties to the armed insurrection of Kamuina Nsapu. Murder, pillage, and torture were committed against hundreds of civilians in retaliation for their refusal to collaborate with this armed group. The group’s commander, Nsumbu Katende, is now being prosecuted for war crimes and terrorism. One of Katende’s militiamen is also on trial.

“We must break out of the fatalist vision according to which the violence in Kasai will never be punished” declares Guy Mushiata, National Coordinator for TRIAL International in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC). “The Congolese judicial system has already proven in other provinces that warlords are not above the law. Now we want to change mentalities in Kasai, and help rebuild the rule of law there.”

Kasai, infamous for its mass crimes 

Located in southern Congo, the Kasai region is tragically known for the violent conflict that opposed the armed insurrection of Kamuina Nsapu and the government of Kinshasa. Between 2016 and 2019 the civilian population was caught between the countless armed factions and endured mass crimes, most of which are still going unpunished. In March 2017, Kasai made international headlines when two United Nations experts, Michael Sharp (USA) and Zaida Catalan (Sweden), as well as the four Congolese nationals who were accompanying them, were kidnapped and murdered.

The trial that opens today is indirectly connected to these crimes because commander Nsumbu Katende and his accomplice participated in the same insurrectional movement as the individuals accused of murdering Michael Sharp and Zaida Catalan: the Kamuina Nsapu. Moreover, the crimes at the center of today’s trial occurred two weeks before the two experts were kidnapped. Although the trial does not aim to shed light on these particular murders – which are the focus of another pending trial – the case seriously weakens the impunity of armed militias and could open the door to other prosecutions.

Rapid progress after years of stagnation

This trial begins just over a year after TRIAL International opened its first project in Kasai. It was through conversations with local actors that the organization became aware of the case. In September 2020, TRIAL International facilitated a documentation mission, during which nearly 300 victims were identified. Thanks to this additional investigative work, the prosecutor considered the evidence sufficient to close his investigation and present the case to the military court in Kananga.

“We are delighted with the rapid evolution of the case” comments Daniele Perissi, Head of the Great Lakes Program. “It is the result of an excellent collaboration between the judicial authorities of Kasai Central and its local and international partners.” And it proves to skeptics that even in the most challenging regions, impunity for mass crimes can be brought to an end.

TRIAL International collaborates in Kasai with Physicians for Human Rights, an NGO using medical evidence to document human rights abuses. Their joint project in Kasai aims to strengthen access to justice through a combination of legal and medical expertise. This project is generously funded by the Swedish International Development Cooperation Agency, Sida.

On 8 March for International Women’s Rights Day, TRIAL International reiterates its unyielding support to all women around the world fighting for their rights. Whether they are survivors, activists or whistleblowers, our support would be nothing without their courage and dedication. We are proud to be on their side in a variety of ways.

Defending survivors before domestic jurisdictions

A rare win for a victim of sexual violence in Burundi

Rape of a minor: sergeant of the Congolese army sentenced to 14 years in prison

Bosnia and Herzegovina: two men convicted for wartime rape in Foča

Denouncing violence to international audiences

Bosnia’s failure in supporting survivors of wartime sexual violence condemned by the UN

Nepal’s legislation on sexual violence is insufficient and poorly implemented

What War Does to Women: new book highlights the plague of conflict-related sexual violence

Fighting stigmatization and stereotyping

In Bosnia and Herzegovina, stigmatization persists for victims of wartime sexual violence

Sexual violence: the importance of words

Rape myths in wartime sexual violence trials

We need your support to go even further! Stand on the side of victims and donate today.

In DRC, Bosnia and Herzegovina and around the world, working with survivors of sexual violence in the midst of war is extremely challenging. The attitude adopted towards the victims and their stories is crucial to support them on the road to justice. The choice of expressions used in the courts is equally important.

Naming the unnamable

All victims of atrocities such as torture or arbitrary detention suffer from subsequent trauma. Recalling these memories and recounting the experienced can be extremely painful, yet it remains essential to establish the facts in a court of law. Counseling is often helpful.

During TRIAL International’s documentation or investigative missions, interviews with survivors of sexual violence are particularly sensitive. Victims must revisit a stigmatizing and taboo act. The crime, which affects sexuality and intimacy, is often referred to in vague and generic terms. In some contexts, the victim does not even possess the appropriate vocabulary to discuss it! But for testimony to have any merit in a court of law, the facts must be presented soberly but clearly. How can the victim then be led to explicitly verbalize the act without rushing them, humiliating them or making them relive the trauma in all its horror?

In its support to survivors, TRIAL International only works with local partners who are duly trained and sensitized to the issue. To this end, the organization adopts the deontology of the International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict.

The choice of words in court

While the assault must be clearly described, some details may be irrelevant. Where to draw the line between the information needed for the procedure and respect for privacy? In a report on the stigmatization of victims of wartime sexual violence in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some of the issues that emerge during trials are pointed out. Is it strictly necessary to know how the perpetrator undressed his victim or whether he kissed them? Within the court, these elements most often contribute to the stigmatization and humiliation of victims. All questions must be proportionate and justified.

Finally, the words used to describe the assault in the sentence are also important. Some expressions are problematic. For example, when they contribute to the stigmatization of victims and when they minimize the violent element of the assault. This is the case when rape is referred to as “an attack on a woman’s honor” or “a sexual relationship”.

Victims of sexual violence face many difficulties when they dare to talk about this crime, including in court. Nevertheless, thanks to long-running awareness-raising campaigns, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, some progress can be observed. “We can see it in the decisions handed down by the courts between the beginning of the awareness-raising workshops and today“, notes, for example, Božidarka Dodik, Judge at the Supreme Court of the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina.  TRIAL International will continue to work in order to ensure that these promising signs become widespread.

A Nigerian man whose brother was among about 59 West African migrants killed in The Gambia in 2005 by a paramilitary unit controlled by then-president Yahya Jammeh, told the Truth, Reconciliation, and Reparations Commission (TRRC) on 2 March 2021 that he wants to see those responsible brought to justice. Gambian and international human rights groups have been monitoring the commission hearings, which began in January 2019.

Kehinde Enagameh testified that his brother, Paul Omozemoje Enagameh, then 28, was found to be missing in 2005 while seeking to migrate to Europe. Kehinde Enagameh later learned from a friend that Gambian authorities had arrested and killed his brother. But for many years he was unable to learn any more, until the killing of the migrants received international attention in recent years.

“Since my brother went missing, it’s been an emotional trauma for the whole family,” Kehinde Enagameh said. “I want Yahya Jammeh and those involved in my brother’s killing to be brought to justice.”

Watch Kehinde Enagameh’s statement to the truth commission

Paul Enagameh was one of nine Nigerians killed in the massacre, according to a 2008 report by the Nigerian High Commission in Gambia. Most of the other Nigerian victims have not been identified.

In addition to the Nigerians, about 44 Ghanaians, and nationals of Congo, Côte d’Ivoire, Gambia, Liberia, Senegal, Sierra Leone and Togo are believed to have been killed over several days in July 2005. On February 25, a former senior officer of Gambia’s National Intelligence Agency testifying at the truth commission presented a list of 51 migrants who had been arrested, the first time that an official list of the arrested migrants has been produced. That list, which includes a “John Amase” from Nigeria, was apparently compiled after eight other migrants, including several Nigerians, had already been killed.

The Gambian truth commission has also heard testimony that former president Jammeh participated in the rape and sexual assault of women brought to him, forced HIV-positive Gambians to give up their medicine and put themselves in his personal care, and was responsible for ordering the killing and torture of political opponents and “witch hunts” in which hundreds of women were arbitrarily detained.

Human rights groups said that the hearings highlight the need for a criminal investigation and appropriate prosecutions of Jammeh and others who bear the greatest responsibility for the serious crimes committed by his government. Jammeh has lived in exile in Equatorial Guinea since his departure from Gambia in January 2017.

“We are going to locate the family of John Amase, whose identity has just been disclosed for the first time at the TRRC, and we will search for the identity of the remaining seven Nigerian migrants,” said Femi Falana, senior advocate of Nigeria, who represents the Enagameh family. “Yahya Jammeh may now be ensconced in Equatorial Guinea but sooner or later he is going to be held accountable.”

See the report of the Nigerian High Commission in The Gambia here (pdf)

A graphic illustrating the basic facts of the massacre there

This article was produced with the financial support of the European Union. Its contents are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.

For the second consecutive year, the International Film Festival and Forum on Human Rights (FIFDH) will be entirely virtual. A redesigned edition, the core mission of which nonetheless remains unchanged. TRIAL International is proud to count itself once again among the Festival’s partners.

TRIAL International is pleased to co-present the documentary Downstream to Kinshasa, by Dieudo Hamadi. The film tells the story of a group of victims of the war in DRC, retracing their 20-year struggle to obtain financial reparations promised by the Congolese government. In the face of political apathy, and despite severe handicaps, the victims set out on a journey to make their voices heard in the nation’s capital, Kinshasa. The documentary chronicles their travels along the Congo River.

Watch Downstream to Kinshasa online (available from 5 to 14 March)

As a supplement to the film, Daniele Perissi, Head of the Great Lakes Program at TRIAL International, explains the connection between justice and reparations. Using examples from TRIAL’s casework, he describes the current state of affairs in the DRC.

Learn more about reparations in DRC

Expanding into new channels and new spaces

In light of the pandemic, the FIFDH has reinvented itself. The 2021 edition aims to be “even more accessible and inclusive than previous editions,” says Isabelle Gattiker, General and Program Director. In keeping with that goal, all of the Festival’s content has been made available online at fifdh.org. This year’s edition features 29 films, 17 live debates, and 16 hours of original video and audio programming, with exclusive content.

Although the format of the FIFDH has changed, its mission has not. The Festival remains true to its values, first and foremost by giving voice to human rights activists around the world. This year’s guests include Angela Davis, Arundhati Roy and Ai Weiwei, each of whom invites the audience to self-reflect and to take action. In the words of Swiss film director Milo Rau, another Festival guest: “It’s no longer just about depicting the world. It’s about changing it.”

Visit the FIFDH website