Originally published on the CGS blog on May 23, 2007.
As Raj noted yesterday morning , the International Criminal Court has launched an investigation into complaints of rape, sexual cruelty and other abuses committed in the Central African Republic.
In today’s Washington Post , Nora Boustany reports on the importance of this investigation, especially as it pertains to the issues of rape:
A distinctive feature of this investigation is the high number of sexual assault and cruelty cases, which far outnumber alleged killings. At least 600 people were raped in a five-month period, the court believes.
Boustany also reports the following, which explains why the ICC’s investigation was not only needed, but launched:
The government of the Central African Republic referred the case to the court after the country’s highest judicial body instituted its own criminal proceedings against deposed president Ange-Felix Patasse and several military commanders in 2004 for alleged acts committed against civilians.
The Cour de Cassation, the country’s supreme court, determined that the national judicial system could not handle the complex probe required to prosecute the full scope of crimes committed during the conflict.
