Commander found guilty for sexual abuse by troops

On March 21, 2016, the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague found Jean-Pierre Bemba guilty for not stopping his troops from raping and killing civilians in the Central African Republic for several months in 2002 and 2003. The decision was significant in that it focused on the systematic use of sexual violence as a weapon of war and it held a commander responsible for acts committed by his troops.

A former Congolese vice-president, Bemba led about 1,500 troops into the Central African Republic where they committed the atrocities. He is the highest-ranking politician to have been convicted by the international court.

Canada fostered creation of the court

Canada pressed hard for the creation of the International Criminal Court. It chaired the negotiations to write the Rome statute to set up the court and the first chief justice was Canadian Philippe Kirch.

There has been some frustration that the court has only rendered three verdicts since its inception 1998. Darryl Robinson is a former Canadian diplomat who took part in the efforts to create the court and worked there once it was established. He says several cases are now coming to fruition and the court appears to be hitting its stride. In his view, the Bemba case has special significance.

Sexual violence used to punish, demoralize, humiliate

“I think there’s been a historical tendency to regard sexual violence as an inevitable by-product of war. And this is really focussing on the obligation of commanders to control their troops, to monitor this and make it stop,” says Robinson.

“These troops were really using sexual violence on a massive scale as a way to punish the civilians, demoralize the civilians, humiliate the civilians.” Victims included women, men and girls as young as 10.

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Bemba now awaits sentencing. He will likely be imprisoned in one of the states which are parties to the ICC. He may, however, appeal the verdict