Survivors of Sexual Violence and the African Union: A Model to Follow?

(Delighted to welcome back alumna Doris Buss, who contributes this guest post)

Women’s civil society groups from across Africa met recently with state ambassadors in Addis Ababa, Ethiopia, as part of a now-annual meeting of the Peace and Security Council of the African Union with civil society.
The March 28 meeting included addresses by the various ‘office holders’ below: Margot Wallström (middle), the UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, Litha Musyimi-Ogana (left), the Director of the Women, Gender and Development Directorate of the African Union, and Dr. Mary Chinery-Hesse (right), from the AU’s Panel of the Wise.
But the real force of the meetings came from the “Survivors of Sexual Violence in Armed Conflict”, who had traveled from Côte d’Ivoire, the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Guinea, Kenya, Somalia, South Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe. The meeting included time for “first-hand accounts” from the survivors, as well as discussion of different models of civil society initiatives for rehabilitation and community reintegration.
At the end of the event the survivors of sexual violence released a Statement, which is a moving testament to the urgent health needs of sexual violence sufferers in Africa. The Statement makes a number of recommendations relating to health care, including, a call for “comprehensive medical care, including emergency surgery services, and trained medical workers on trauma management” and a recommendation that AU member states “ increase their health budget for our sexual and reproductive health complications and trauma management”.
The frustration of civil society actors in ‘post’ conflict negotiations is also clearly evident in the Statement:

We are deeply saddened by the fact that our violators and their apologists are often seated on these tables deciding our fate. We are therefore not surprised that post conflict processes do not include the concerns and priorities of survivors of sexual violence. Instead, we are often urged to let bygones be bygones and look to the future. We cannot look to the future when we are hurting physically and psychologically, and are unable to pick up the pieces of our lives.

Among the recommendations made is a call for the AU to “adopt sexual violence as a disqualifying criterion for leadership” in line with UN Security Council Resolution 1960.
As an example of civil society and state interactions, this annual meeting between the AU and victims of sexual violence may be a model to consider in other contexts. I wonder, for example, what would happen if members of the Canadian Parliament (or US House of Representatives), agreed to meet each year with a representative group of poor single mothers to hear about their lives and experiences over the past year?

Madame la Secrétaire générale?

The problem is not a lack of capable women. The problem is a lack of determination, political will and vision.

So concludes a San Francisco Chronicle commentary urging that a woman be appointed Secretary-General of the United Nations at the end of Ban Ki-moon's 1st term in January 2012. (credit for (c) Francesco Federico photo of U.N. plaza)
Only 3 words are devoted to the possibility that Ban, formerly a diplomat in South Korea, might be reappointed. The rest of the full-page essay sets out reasons why "It's time for a Madame Secretary," to quote the title as it appeared in the print edition. (As Stephanie's post above explains, the issue's arisen before.)
The authors -- Dr. Michael E. Brown, Dean of the Elliott School of International Affairs at George Washington University, and Dr. Chantal de Jonge Oudrant, Associate Vice Presidentof the Jennings Randolph Fellowship Program, U.S. Institute of Peace -- then suggest several "brilliant female leaders" whom they deem to possess the requisite "policy expertise, political experience and gravitas."
And their nominees are:
► U.N. Under-Secretary Michelle Bachelet (prior posts), who now serves as the 1st head of UN Women, having completed service as President of Chile, the 1st woman so to lead her country. (More UN Women news in the post below.)
► Helen Clark (prior posts), Administrator of the U.N. Development Programme (1st woman to lead that agency) and former Prime Minister of New Zealand (1st woman to win that office following an election).
► Radhika Coomaraswamy (prior posts), U.N. Special Representative for Children and Armed Conflict and former chair of the Sri Lanka Human rights Commission.
► Graça Machel (prior posts), who has served as a U.N. expert on child soldiers, is a women's and children's rights advocate, and who was Minister of Education and Culture in Mozambique.
► Margot Wallström (prior posts), U.N. Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict and formerly holder of ministerial posts both in her native Sweden and in European institutions.
An impressive list.
Glaring omission: absence of any mention of the 3 women who've served as U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights.
Other nominations welcome.

Gender Report Card on the ICC

(Delighted to welcome back alumnae Brigid Inder and Kate Orlovsky, who contribute this guest post)

During the 9th Session of the International Criminal Court Assembly of States Parties, held earlier this month in New York, Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice, the Hague-based nongovernmental organization at which we work, launched its Gender Report Card on the International Criminal Court, 2010.
The launch was one of the first events to be co-hosted by UNIFEM, the United Nations Development Fund for Women, as part of UN Women, the new agency for women headed by former Chilean President Michelle Bachelet (prior IntLawGrrls posts). Attending were representative of the ICC and its states parties, the United Nations, and various NGOs. Speakers included Margot Wallström (middle right), formerly a public official in Sweden and Europe, who was appointed the U.N. Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Sexual Violence in Conflict earlier this year; Joanne Sandler, Deputy Executive Director of UNIFEM; and one of us, Brigid Inder, Executive Director of the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice.
In her speech, Brigid called attention to 2010 as a year of '"firsts":
►For the first time charges of genocide were included in an arrest warrant -- and these included acts of rape and sexual violence.
►The ICC began its first trial, in Prosecutor v. Bemba, in relation to crimes committed in the Central African Republic.
►The Court heard its first witness to provide testimony in relation to charges of sexual violence.
►The first expert witness to address gender-based crimes appeared before the ICC. This expert was Radhika Coomaraswamy (right), the Special Advisor to the U.N. Secretary-General on Children and Armed Conflict. (photo credit) In the trial of Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (prior posts), Coomaraswamy provided insight into the gender dimensions of the enlistment and conscription of child soldiers.
►For the first time three participating victims were also enabled to testify.
►An all-women bench is presiding a trial at the ICC. This is a first in any of the international tribunals.
►For the first time, as described in IntLawGrrls posts available here, the Prosecutor exercised proprio motu powers by issuing summonses in relation to the 2008 post-election violence in Kenya.
For states parties it was also a year of firsts:
► At this summer's Review Conference in Kampala, the Assembly of States Parties adopted proposed amendments on the crime of aggression that clearly define the crime -- a crime that, in time, individuals will be held accountable by the ICC.
►Four more states became states parties, bringing the total number of members to 114.
There were some unexpected developments during 2010, such as the second stay of proceedings in the Lubanga case.
Nevertheless, women around the world are supporting and urging the ICC to prosecute gender-based crimes with vision and direction, with determination and purpose, and with clarity about the ICC's intention to contribute to justice for women.
The Women's Initiatives' Gender Report Card analyses the institutional developments of the ICC throughout 2010, as well the ICC's substantive work and jurisprudence. The review of the ICC's substantive progress includes:
► An examination of the investigation and prosecution strategy of the Office of the Prosecutor; and
► An overview of trial proceedings and analysis of key judicial decisions. The focus is on cases where gender-based crimes have been charged or where these issues have arisen during the legal proceedings, as well as on those decisions affecting victims and witnesses appearing before the Court.
In short, the Gender Report Card provides the most comprehensive gender analysis of the ICC currently available.