Achieving Justice for Child Survivors of Conflict-related Sexual Violence in the Democratic Republic of the Congo in Light of the Kavumu Case

Abstract

In this article, the author questions some assertions on issues of international and Congolese criminal law made in the context of an article published in a Special Issue of the Journal on ‘Justice and Accountability for Sexual Violence in Conflict: Progress and Challenges in National Efforts to Address Impunity’. While he credits the article with helping to bring to the attention of a wider audience the atrocities experienced by the victims of the Kavumu case — and thus contributing to the overall justice-effort on their behalf — he notes a few areas of legal concern, including: (i) the impact of Article 27(2) ICC Statute on parliamentary immunities in prosecuting crimes under the Rome Statute before national courts; (ii) the determination of liability of the accused when military judges have failed to identify direct perpetrators of crimes or the group to which they belong; and (iii) the relationship between the forms of criminal responsibility of individuals that make up the leadership of an organization and the policy element of crimes against humanity attributed to that organization. In sum, the article seeks to investigate to what extent the judicial reasoning in this case may have contributed to clarifying the provisions of the ICC Statute as applied by military judges in Congolese courts.