© USIP 2016 • All rights reserved.

United States Institute of Peace • www.usip.org • Tel. 202.457.1700 • 

UNITED STATES INSTITUTE OF PEACE

@usip

“It is important to understand the challenges local 

practitioners face in their 

day-to-day management 

of [sexual and genderbased violence] under 

domestic penal laws and 

what they need in order 

to address SGBV under 

international criminal law.”

June 2016

Improving Accountability for ConflictRelated Sexual Violence in Africa

Ketty Anyek

Email: anyeko.kate@gmail.com

Julie Freccero

Email: juliefreccero@berkeley.edu

Kim Thuy Seelinge

Email: ktseelinger@berkeley.edu

PEACEBRIEF206

Introduction

Since the adoption of UN Security Council Resolution 1325 on Women, Peace, and Security in 

2000, policymakers have paid greater attention to accountability for wartime SGBV. Indeed, some 

incidents of SGBV committed during armed conflict may constitute war crimes, crimes against 

humanity, or acts of genocide.

Traditionally, the provision of medical or psychosocial care for survivors of conflict-related SGBV 

or the investigation and prosecution of these crimes has been scarce. These services are often seen 

as the domain of international tribunals and humanitarian actors. However, local government and 

civil society groups play a critical role as well. It is important to understand the challenges local 

practitioners face in their day-to-day management of SGBV under domestic penal laws and what 

they need in order to also address SGBV under international criminal law. 

The following are key findings and policy recommendations drawn from research conducted by 

the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley1 and discussions from the “Missing 

Summary

• Local practitioners who focus on responses to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV) 

can play a critical role in the documentation and prosecution of war crimes, crimes against 

humanity, and acts of genocide.

• Assisting survivors of conflict-related SGBV to report their experiences to healthcare providers 

and/or police can help them access essential support services. It also provides opportunities 

to work with groups that build legal cases against perpetrators of SGBV.

• Healthcare workers must be supported because they play a vital role in survivor support and 

documentation of experiences that may be used as evidence to establish SGBV as an international crime. 

• Current measures for witness protection and survivor support are inadequate for the unique 

security challenges posed by crimes committed in the context of armed conflict. 

• Where countries have domesticated the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, 

criminal laws should be harmonized to the fullest extent possible; at a minimum, police and 

other first responders should be trained in investigating SGBV committed as a war crime, 

crime against humanity, or act of genocide. 
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Improving Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Africa

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Peace Practitioners’Workshop on Sexual Violence,”2 held in August 2015 in Kampala, Uganda.3 The 

workshop brought together over eighty healthcare providers, police officers, prosecutors, forensic 

analysts, judges, and civil society leaders from Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, South Sudan, Uganda, 

and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Experts from the International Criminal Court and groups 

specializing in universal jurisdiction prosecution also joined to share tips and resources related to 

international crimes.

Make Reporting Easier for Survivors

Improving survivors’ ability to report SGBV is essential for many reasons. Reporting helps survivors 

access essential medical care and psychosocial support. It also provides an opportunity for evidence 

collection and the contemporaneous documentation of survivors’ experiences, which can contribute 

to the prosecution of SGBV—including as an international crime. 

Further, organizations assisting survivors during conflict can keep survivors informed of opportunities to testify in cases of international crimes long after a conflict period has ended. 

Barriers to reporting SGBV are of both a social and structural nature. The stigma associated with 

SGBV, the fear of retaliation, community pressure to settle cases informally, and limited awareness 

of legal rights and trust in the police often inhibit survivors from approaching official state institutions. Long distances to police and health facilities and the cost of transportation were also cited as 

recurrent obstacles. 

During armed conflict, these barriers are exacerbated due to insecurity and mobility challenges, 

shortages of police and health staff, and damaged infrastructure. Moreover, survivors may see no 

safe way to report crimes in areas where the police or military were implicated in the violence.

It is essential to create an enabling environment for survivors to report their experiences. 

Strategies include raising awareness of SGBV through the use of billboards, community radio, and 

theater. In addition, it is important to put into place long-term community mobilization strategies 

to change underlying behavioral norms.4 Relevant government actors should work with civil 

society organizations to improve access to reporting and support services. Potential interventions 

include twenty-four-hour hotlines, transportation to health facilities, or teams of community-based 

first responders who can accompany survivors to services. These measures should be maintained 

during emergency periods, as feasible. 

Prioritize Witness Protection and Support

Even in peacetime, survivors of SGBV can be reluctant to assist in the investigation or prosecution 

of their perpetrators due to fear of the accused. The availability of safe shelter and courtroom 

protections is thus key to promoting survivors’ sense of security and willingness to engage the 

formal legal system. However, provision of shelter in the countries studied generally fell to civil 

society organizations whose resource constraints often limited bedspace, security, and reintegration options. In the courtroom, researchers learned of the increasing use of in camera testimony or 

screens to shield witnesses while they testified. Once witnesses stepped outside the courtroom, 

though, their safety or anonymity was difficult to ensure.

Providing shelter from SGBV related to armed conflict may pose additional challenges. First, 

amid acute humanitarian crisis, it can be difficult to maintain the operation of any institution, 

including a safehouse. Second, the potential volume of cases committed during wartime—and the 

increased chance that perpetrators are numerous, armed, or powerful—poses heightened capacity and security concerns for shelter providers. Third, even after a conflict has ended, survivors who 
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Improving Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Africa

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suffered SGBV at the hands of armed actors may need long-term or heightened protection from 

powerful commanders seeking to avoid prosecution for the acts of their subordinates.

In short, the protection and support of survivors who may wish to report conflict-period 

SGBV poses challenges that may exceed the current capacities of traditional safe shelters or 

courts. Relevant government ministries should allocate resources for the protection and support 

of witnesses who assist in the prosecution of armed or powerful actors in coordination with 

experienced civil society organizations, who should not be expected to carry the burden of 

protection on their own. 

Support and Engage the Health Sector

Healthcare providers play a dual role in responding to SGBV. In addition to providing clinical care 

to survivors, they also support the justice process by conducting the forensic medical examination, 

recording findings in an official medical report, collecting physical evidence from a survivor’s body, 

and testifying in court.

Information from the health sector is critical in SGBV cases. Workshop participants emphasized 

that the medical report was the single most important, and often the only, form of evidence in 

SGBV cases aside from the survivor’s testimony. However, due to reporting barriers, survivors often 

arrive at healthcare facilities late, after injuries have healed and evidence has been lost. Health 

facilities often lack basic supplies for collecting and storing evidence and few healthcare providers 

have the training needed to conduct a forensic examination, effectively complete a medical report, 

and collect evidence. Finally, providers are often reluctant to document evidence, because of either 

time constraints or they do not feel prepared to testify in court.

Evidence from the health sector can also contribute to the prosecution of SGBV as an international crime. For example, medical records of sexual assault, aggregated by specific locations 

and time periods, might indicate patterns of widespread or systematic violence.5 During conflict, 

healthcare providers could also document additional information that may be relevant in cases of 

international crimes, such as whether the perpetrator was wearing a specific uniform.6 However, 

in emergency periods, providers often feel overwhelmed by demand for their services, damaged 

infrastructure, and even greater resource limitations. They may not be able or willing to take extra 

steps to collect evidence for later prosecution.

Governments should allocate greater resources within health ministry budgets to address 

SGBV, generally. Training for healthcare providers should include all aspects of documenting 

SGBV, including conducting the forensic examination; completing relevant health or police forms; 

collecting, storing, and transferring evidence; and testifying in court. Healthcare providers should 

also receive training in evidentiary requirements for international crimes and adjusted protocols 

for evidence collection in emergencies. These protocols should be context-specific, practical, and 

ensure that the safety of providers and survivors is not compromised. 

Finally, healthcare facilities should develop flexible plans for delivering care in emergencies, such 

as treatment protocols where follow-up is unlikely, procedures for quickly procuring additional 

supplies, and the implementation of mobile clinics.

Harmonize Laws and Coordinate Specialized Units

Workshop discussion highlighted the need for two integration processes: 1) harmonization of 

domestic and international criminal laws concerning SGBV, and 2) coordination and collaboration 

between entities focused on SGBV and entities focused on international crimes.
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Improving Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Africa

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Often, domestic laws criminalizing SGBV do not match the provisions of the Rome Statute of 

the International Criminal Court or developments under customary international law. Where local 

laws and the Rome Statute have common offences, their definitions of those offences may differ 

significantly. For example, the Ugandan Penal Code defines rape as a crime against women and 

girls, whereas the Rome Statute definition is gender-neutral.7 Further, few national penal laws 

criminalize the full range of SGBV provided for in the Rome Statute, which includes rape, sexual 

slavery, enforced prostitution, forced pregnancy, and enforced sterilization.8

Even in countries that aspire to prosecute crimes under international law, local police will only 

investigate what they are trained, or required by law, to investigate. So where police and other 

first responders are unfamiliar with the elements and types of criminal responsibility international 

criminal law provides, they may fail to document information that can establish a war crime, crime 

against humanity, or act of genocide years later. 

Therefore, harmonization of domestic and international laws regarding SGBV—or domestication of the Rome Statute—is a first step. A second step is to train local healthcare workers, police, 

prosecutors, judges, and human rights NGOs on the distinct elements of SGBV committed as a war 

crime, crime against humanity, or act of genocide, so they have at least minimal awareness in case 

of future emergency.

Researchers also observed the emergence of specialized healthcare, police, and prosecution 

units focused on SGBV. Similarly, researchers noted the recent emergence of a few other specialized units focused on the prosecution of international crimes. In times of armed conflict, these 

teams should combine expertise to ensure detection, investigation, and prosecution of SGBV 

committed as a war crime, crime against humanity, and act of genocide.9

Conclusion

In addition to international humanitarian actors and international tribunals, local government 

and civil society actors who handle SGBV cases have much to offer in terms of accountability for 

violations of international criminal law. Though myriad political and resource challenges persist 

in many countries, it is essential to explore ways to expand local actors’ ability to respond to SGBV 

in times of armed conflict and other emergencies. Active exchange among researchers, local 

practitioners, and policymakers is a first step toward the development of practical new strategies. 

Notes

1. Between 2011 and 2015, the Human Rights Center studied the challenges and strategies 

related to legal accountability for SGBV in five African countries affected by armed conflict: 

Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone, Uganda, and the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The report is 

available at: www.law.berkeley.edu/wp-content/uploads/2015/04/The-Long-Road-accountability_report_2015_final_web2.pdf. 

2. For more information on the workshop, please see www.law.berkeley.edu/research/human

-rights-center/programs/sexual-violence-program/missing-peace-practitioners-network/.

3. The 2015 workshop in Kampala was generously funded by the MacArthur Foundation and the 

Royal Norwegian Embassy in Uganda and was hosted by members of the Missing Peace Initiative and a local partner, Fund for War-Affected Children and Youth in Northern Uganda.

4. For example, Raising Voices’ SASA! Program, a long-term community mobilization strategy, 

has been rigorously evaluated. See http://bmcmedicine.biomedcentral.com/articles/10.1186/

s12916-014-0122-5.
© USIP 2016 • All rights reserved.

Improving Accountability for Conflict-Related Sexual Violence in Africa

Page 5 • PB 206 • June 2016

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tools that prevent and end conflicts, 

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the field of peacebuilding.

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5. Michael P. Anastario, Monica Adhiambo Onyango, Joan Nyanyuki, et al., “Time Series Analysis 

of Sexual Assault Case Characteristics and the 2007–2008 Period of Post-Election Violence in 

Kenya,” PLoS ONE 9, no. 8 (2014): e106443.

6. For additional guidance for healthcare providers, see the “International Protocol on the 

Documentation and Investigation of Sexual Violence in Conflict,” www.gov.uk/government/

uploads/system/uploads/attachment_data/file/319054/PSVI_protocol_web.pdf.

7. Uganda Penal Code (1950), para 123; International Criminal Court Elements of Crimes (2011), at 8. 

8. Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, Art. 7(1)(g) and Art. 8(2)(b)(xxii).

9. See Kim Thuy Seelinger, “Domestic Accountability for Sexual Violence: The Potential of Specialized Units in Kenya, Liberia, Sierra Leone and Uganda,” International Review of the Red Cross 96, 

no. 894 (2014): 539–64.

About This B

This Peace Brief presents research 

from the Human Rights Center 

at the University of California, 

Berkeley, School of Law and 

results of dialogue with African 

experts at the 2015 Missing Peace 

Practitioners’ Workshop in Kampala on how to improve groundlevel response to conflict-related 

sexual and gender-based violence 

(SGBV). The Missing Peace 

Initiative is an initiative of the U.S. 

Institute of Peace, the Human 

Rights Center at the University 

of California, Berkeley, the Peace 

Research Institute of Oslo, and 

Women in International Security. 

Ketty Anyeko is a Gender and 

Transitional Justice Expert for The 

Fund for War-Affected Children 

and Youth in Northern Uganda. 

Kim Thuy Seelinger is the Director 

and Julie Freccero is the Associate 

Director of the Sexual Violence 

Program at the Human Rights 

Center, University of California, 

Berkeley, School of Law.