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The International Criminal Court must demonstrate it understands gender-based crimes are amongst the most serious crimes it is mandated to prosecute and show its determination to hold accountable those responsible for the commission of these crimes in Darfur, the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice said today following the report on Darfur by the Prosecutor of the ICC to the UN Security Council.
"We are very concerned at the oversight by the Prosecutor in his report to the Security Council, of the overwhelming impact of the conflict on women in Darfur and the cursory mention of rape and sexual violence" said Brigid Inder, Executive Director of the Women's Initiatives for Gender Justice.
"In several refugee camps women make up 90% of the adult population, thousands of women have been killed, and there are almost one thousand reported cases of women being either abducted, raped, tortured or mutilated, and these cases are just the tip of the iceberg" said Inder.
"Everyone from the United Nations Secretary General and UN agencies to human rights organisations and several media networks, have all reported rape and sexual violence in Darfur as widespread, systematic and used as a deliberate strategy in the conflict. So we are disturbed it received so little attention in the Prosecutor's presentation and worried this may be a sign these crimes are not considered important enough" said Inder.
"If this is the recognition given to sexual violence against women in a conflict where it has been given a high profile by international agencies and the press, it doesn't bode well for the Court's work in other conflict situations where sexual violence is also widespread but has not received this sort of publicity" Inder said.
"Expectations are high within Darfur, as well as amongst women's groups on the African continent and internationally, that gender based crimes will be one of the top priorities for the ICC" said Inder.