New report on cumulative charging at ICC

A new report on cumulative charging has just been released by the War Crimes Research Office, American University Washington College of the Law, for which I serve as Director.
Cumulative charging has become an issue in Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, an International Criminal Court case arising out of violence in the Central African Republic. (Prior IntLawGrrls posts available here.)

On 15 June 2009, the ICC's Pre-Trial Chamber II issued a decision that both confirmed and denied various charges lodged against Bemba, and then sent the confirmed charges to trial.

The Prosecution had alleged that Bemba bore responsibility for these offenses based on evidence establishing, inter alia, his role in numerous acts of rape committed against civilians in the Central African Republic. Importantly, the Pre-Trial Chamber did find sufficient evidence to establish substantial grounds to believe that these acts of rape took place, and that the accused could be held criminally responsible for the acts. Yet, it held that the Prosecution had acted inappropriately by bringing “cumulative charges” based on the acts of rape. Thus it confirmed only the charges of rape as a crime against humanity and rape as a war crime, and dismissed the charges of torture as a crime against humanity and outrage upon personal dignity as a war crime.

The report just issued by our War Crimes Research Office examines 2 determinations of the Bemba Pre-Trial Chamber:

► That the practice of cumulative charging is not warranted in the context of the ICC as a general matter; and

► That, in the Bemba case before it, the charges of torture as a crime against humanity and outrage upon personal dignity as a war crime were inappropriately cumulative.

The report begins with a discussion of cumulative charging in international criminal bodies, where the practice is widely accepted. It then lays out the relevant jurisprudence from the Bemba case. Finally, the report analyzes the Bemba jurisprudence and offers recommendations.

In particular, the report concludes that:

► Nothing prohibits the practice of cumulative charging at the ICC, and

► Persuasive reasons exist to permit the practice.

On this basis, the report recommends that the ICC broadly permit cumulative charging, or, at a minimum, that it permit multiple charges based on the same evidence where each charge contains a materially distinct element.

Go On! Women in the military

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia and other events of interest)

"Women in the Military: Fighting For Their Rights" is the title of a program to be presented from 12 noon to 2 p.m. this Thursday, March 25, at the American University Washington College of Law, 4801 Massachusetts Avenue, Washington, D.C. Sponsors are the National Institute of Military Justice, on whose boards IntLawGrrls Elizabeth Lutes Hillman, Beth Van Schaack, and I proudly serve, as well as the law school's Women’s Law Association and Veterans Law Student Association.

Featured panels:
► Current Issues Affecting Women In The Military. Speaking will be Captain Lory Manning, Director of the Women in the Military Project for the Women's Research and Education Institute; Commander Carol Stundtner, Gender Policy Advisor, U.S. Coast Guard; and Captain Kari Crawford, Attorney, Criminal Law Division, U.S. Army JAG Corps. Michelle M. Lindo McCluer, NIMJ Executive Director, will moderate.
► Addressing Sexual Assault In The Military. Brigadier General (ret.) Thomas R. Cuthbert, Senior Technical Advisor for the Defense Task Force on Sexual Assault in Military Services; and Janet Mansfield, Attorney, Criminal Law Policy Division, Office of the Judge Advocate General, U.S. Army, and Legal Advisor to U.S. Army Sexual Harassment/Sexual Assault Response and Prevention Program.

The event is free. Details and registration here.

Go On! LatCrit XIV

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest) The schedule for LatCrit XIV and the LatCrit/SALT New Faculty Development Workshop, hosted by American University Washington College of Law Oct. 1-4, is now available here. Hotel and conference registration materials are available here -- the hotel is already 70% booked, so make your reservations soon! The conference theme narrative and initial call for papers/panels are here. Note, however, that the submission deadline has long passed and, absent cancellations, there will be no more panel and work-in-progress slots available (with the exception of commentators for works-in-progress colloquia).

Write on! LatCrit XIV Call for Papers

(Write On! is an occasional item about notable calls for papers.)
The theme of "Outsiders Inside: Critical Outside Theory and Praxis in the Policymaking of the New American Regime" will be the focus of the 14th Annual LatCrit Conference, which will be hosted by American University Washington College of Law in Washington, D.C., from Thursday, October 1 through Sunday, October 4, 2009.
Conference organizers seek papers

propounding prescriptive critiques of discrete areas of law, policy and regulation of specific relevance to outsider communities, including (but by no means limited to) economic justice, international and comparative law, criminal law and the death penalty, civil rights and constitutional law (including gender and LGBT equality, reproductive and disability rights), immigration, political and electoral (dis)enfranchisement, communications policy and intellectual property, healthcare, education, employment, tax policy, and the environment. We also, of course, welcome proposals for more theoretical panels and papers, particularly (but not exclusively) in areas linked to the challenges posed by progressive governance and the ascendance of outsiders to positions of ultimate authority.

More information regarding the conference may be found here. The call for papers is here. Panel and paper proposals should be submitted online at this website no later than Monday, April 27, 2009. Paper proposals for work-in-progress sessions will be accepted through mid-July.

Go On! Right to Identity

(Go On! is an occasional item on symposia of interest) In some countries in the Americas citizens are denied the right to their identity, and that denial that threatens their civil status from birth to death. Addressing that issue will be a conference entitled "Right to Identity in the Americas: The Role of Civil Society," to be held March 7 at American University's Center for Human Rights & Humanitarian Law, Washington, D.C. Additional cosponsors are Rights & Democracy, based in Montreal, Canada, and the D.C.-based Robert F. Kennedy Memorial Center for Human Rights (of which, I'm proud to say, my former student, Monika Kalra Varma (top right), is director).
Speakers include: our colleague Roxanna Altholz (middle right), Associate Director of the human rights law clinic at the University of California, Berkeley; Sonia Pierre (top left) of El Movimiento de Mujeres Dominico-Haitiana, an NGO in the Dominican Republic; Colette Lespinasse (bottom right) of Le Groupe d'Appui aux Rapatriés et Réfugiés, a Haiti-based NGO; and Dr. Sofia Macher (bottom left), formerly a member of Truth and Reconciliation Committee, representing Instituto de Defensa Legal, an NGO in Peru. Also invited are representatives from the Organization of American States, the United Nations, and the Inter-American Commission on Human Rights.
Can't make it in person? Not a problem. The conference will be webcast at http://wclcenterforhr.org/.