Post and photo by Erin Schmidt, Advocacy Intern 

The International Criminal Court  (ICC) in the Hague, Netherlands charged two Congolese militia leaders with war crimes last Friday, June 27^th. The International Criminal Court is the world’s first permanent war crimes court. It is currently hosting the Special Court for Sierra Leone. The trial underway at this time is that against Charles Taylor former leader of Sierra Leone.  These charges represent the beginning of the second case launched by the World Court since its creation in 2002. The first trial conducted by the court was also of another Congolese militia man, Thomas Lubanga. This case has been suspended over issues related to evidence withholding from the defense. 

The two men charged are Germain Katanga (Head of Patriotic Forces of Resistance of Ituri) and Mathieu Ngudjolo Chui (Head of Allied Front of Nationalists and Integrationists militia). Both are accused of “planning and ordering an attack, in which more than 200 villagers were allegedly killed”. The incident was part of the overall Ituri conflict. The conflict raged on after the peace accord ended Congo’s 1998-2003 war. During the conflict, militias from the Hema and Lendu ethnic groups were pitted against one another. (www.worldbank.org/drc)

Witness reports claim that the victims of this crime were burned and many women were forced to become sex slaves, these are both crimes against humanity and thus cause for International Criminal Court indictments. The Court began its “confirmation of charges” Friday June 27^th, in which evidence will be presented to support the charges including: murder, sexual slavery, rape, inhumane acts, and recruiting child soldiers. After this there will be 60 days in which the court will decide whether or not to go to trial http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/7477702.stm.

I have personally had the opportunity to visit the International Criminal Court in the Netherlands and visited the Special Court for Sierra Leone’s case against Charles Taylor this spring. I found the court to be very interesting and a real hope for future justice for the millions of people in the world that are affected by such crimes. The Court however, is complex in its evidence collection and case research, the main reason why there has only been one case so far. There are challenges to the International Criminal Court, but hope is alive and well that it will continue its pursuit for global justice in our complex world and can help serve as some small sense of justice for those from the region. The International Institute St. Louis, currently is serving clients from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC).

For more information on the International Criminal Court please go to http://www.icc-cpi.int/home.html&l=en Or for information on the DRC and how you can help, go to http://www.theirc.org/special-report/congo-forgotten-crisis.html

This entry was posted on Tuesday, July 1st, 2008 at 12:05 pm and is filed under Refugees. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.