Prosecuting Wartime Gender-Based Crimes under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act Hilmi M. Zawati, D.C.L., Ph.D., LL.M., M.A., Post-Grad. Dipl., LL.B. President, International Legal Advocacy Forum (ILAF) A Speech delivered before The All-Party Parliamentary Group for the Prevention of Genocide and Other Crimes against Humanity In a session on: Sexual Violence during Wartime: A Crime against Humanity - A Global Issue March 26, 2014 The Parliament of Canada, Ottawa 253 D, Centre Block
1 Honourable Senator Dallaire! Honourable members of Senate and House of Commons! Honourable members of the Diplomatic Community! Distinguished guests! Ladies and gentlemen! Good evening! Bonsoir à toutes et à tous! Thank you Senator Dallaire for inviting me to this event, which coincides with the twentieth anniversary of the Rwandan Genocide, in which thousands of women and children fell victims to systematic rape and other forms of sexual violence! It is a great honour and pleasure for me to be here today and to have the opportunity to address this distinguished audience on one of the most timely and critical topics: Prosecuting Wartime Gender-Based Crimes under Canada's Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act It's timely, because the international community is still repeating its mistakes, since rape and other forms of sexual violence continue to be used as a political weapon of war in recent and ongoing armed conflicts, particularly in Syria and Libya. And it is critical, because these crimes have never been adequately prosecuted and punished in any international criminal judicial body, despite considerable improvements in the statutory laws and jurisprudence of the international criminal tribunals and courts, established in the past twenty years. In addressing this issue, I will briefly highlight the challenge of prosecuting gender-based crimes in the international criminal tribunals and courts, especially as the Canadian Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act is based on the the provisions of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. I will also shed some light on the prosecution of crimes against humanity and war crimes under Canadian laws, and finally, conclude by sending a two-fold short
2 appeal to the government of Canada and to victims of wartime sexual violence residing in Canada. I. The Challenge of Prosecuting Gender-Based Crimes at the International Criminal Tribunals and Courts Despite tremendous progress made during the last two decades by international criminal tribunals and courts on gender-based crimes, many legal scholars and commentators have considered these developments as inadequate if not a 'complete' failure. This inadequacy has been the result of several deficiencies, including the lack of a clear gender-based prosecuting strategy, limitations on the tribunals' jurisdictions and mandates, the lack of the prosecutors political will, the failure of prosecutors to provide evidence beyond reasonable doubt, and plea bargaining, which is a highly controversial judicial process that may result in the dropping of even severe charges, including wartime rape and other forms of sexual violence. Moreover, a number of legal scholars, including yours truly, also argue that this inadequacy is due to the abstractness