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In search of a Remedy:

This case study explores the documentation and investigation of sexual violence in the context of Myanmar's Rohingya crisis, examining legal accountability and non-legal international responses. It also discusses the guidelines for documentation and international protocols to assist criminal investigations of sexual violence crimes under international law.

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In search of a Remedy:

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  1. 13 February 2018 In search of a Remedy: Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict A Case Study of Myanmar’s Rohingya

  2. Context Image source: Amnesty International

  3. Modes of Legal Accountability • Domestic Legal System • International Criminal Court • Ad Hoc or Hybrid Tribunals • International Human Rights Instruments • Universal Jurisdiction

  4. Non-Legal International Responses • Economic sanctions • Military Intervention // R2P • Diplomatic Measures • Humanitarian Response // Aid Budgeting

  5. Transitional Justice • Truth and Reconciliation Commission • Memorialization Projects • Documentation Centres • Others?

  6. Who Documents? • Investigators from the ICC OTP • UN Special Units • Domestic police and investigators • First responders - domestic and international human rights and humanitarian organizations

  7. Guidelines on Documentation • International Protocol on the Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict (2014) • Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTR, Best Practices Manual for the Investigation and Prosecution of Sexual Violence Crimes in Post-Conflict Regions (2014) • Human Rights Centre, First Responders: An International Workshop on Collecting and Analyzing Evidence of International Crimes (2014) • Maria Nystedt et al., A Handbook on Assisting Criminal Investigations (2011) • WHO Ethical and Safety Recommendations for Researching, Documenting, and Monitoring Sexual Violence in Emergencies (2007)

  8. Basic Principles from the Guidelines • Do no harm • Risk and safety assessment • Investigative plan • Carefully selected and well-briefed interpreters • Informed consent • Caution with physical evidence • Take good notes

  9. Sexual Violence under International Law • Rome Statute • Art 8.2(b)*/ 8.2(c)-(e)** War crimes • Art 7 Crimes against humanity - when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against a civilian population, with knowledge of the attack. • Each of these may include committing rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, enforced sterilization, or other forms of sexual violence. • Other crimes, such of torture, may also include sexual violence. *Relating to international armed conflicts/ **relating to internal armed conflicts

  10. Sexual Violence under International Law Art 6 Genocide • Any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnic, racial or religious group: • Killing members of the group. • Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group. • Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part. • Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group. • Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

  11. Evidence required under ICL • Specific elements: satisfied by information that shows what particular act was committed;* • Contextual elements: satisfied by information that describes the circumstances in which the particular act was committed and elevates the act to the level of a war crime, crime against humanity, or act of genocide; • Linkage elements: satisfied by information that describes the manner in which one or more alleged perpetrator(s) committed this act as an individual crime. *See: International Criminal Court’s Elements of Crimes

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