Abstract
The omission of charges related to sexual violence in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was controversial and disappointing from a gender perspective, given the prevalence of sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the expectations on the ICC as a gender progressive institution. In 2009, in an attempt to remedy this omission, victim advocates successfully argued that the Trial Chamber should utilize the process under Regulation 55 of the Court to consider legally recharacterizing the charges against Lubanga to include charges of sexual slavery and cruel and inhuman treatment. The decision was later reversed on appeal and the possibility of legal recharacterization dismissed. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in relation to recharacterization in the Lubanga case, and the negative implications of the approach adopted for gender justice at the ICC. The article advances an alternative, gender-sensitive approach to recharacterization under Regulation 55 of the Court that would have supported the possibility of legal recharacterization to the crime of sexual slavery in Lubanga and which would facilitate the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in future cases before the ICC.
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B.A., LL. B. (Hons) (Melbourne). My thanks to Dr. Kevin Heller for his comments and for his encouragement in the writing process. I would like to thank the anonymous referees and the editors of Criminal Law Forum for their helpful suggestions and comments on this article. Any errors or omissions are entirely my own.
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Merope, S. Recharacterizing the Lubanga Case: Regulation 55 and the Consequences for Gender Justice at the ICC. Crim Law Forum 22, 311–346 (2011). https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-011-9143-3
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DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s10609-011-9143-3