Hassan Jallow
speaks on ...
strategies for effective prosecution of sexual violence [KIN]

Transcript

0:00
And another lesson I, I, I believe is, we, we have also recognized is particularly in relation to sexual violence offenses. We have not been as successful as we would have wished; we have not had a very good record of convictions for, for sexual violence.
0:18
Even though right from the beginning this tribunal broke fresh ground in the Akayesu case by holding that sexual violence can const-, can constitute genocide. But we haven’t gone, gone much beyond that.
0:33
And the lesson we’ve learned in respect of sexual violence is that it is important and necessary to prosecute it but you have to fast track it. We, w-, you, you have to give it priority in terms of prosecution.
0:48
If the cases don’t get to court within a number of years, you, you’ll find that by the time you are ready to go to court, your victim is not interested in justice, is, is (___) not interested in justice. You want to pursue the justice line. The victim has resettled, is remarried, has family.
1:08
They don’t want to reopen those issues anymore and, and that’s one of the problems we’ve had. They don’t want to reopen. You want to push the justice angle but they say, “No. Look, I don’t want to reopen that chapter again,” and you end up therefore not being able to prosecute. So you need to, I think, to, to deal with sexual violence very early, at a very early stage when people still, when victims still want justice and they can still, you know, pursue the, the, the justice line.
Audio MP3
Video: MP4
WebM
Transcript: PDF

Tag this Video

Please tag this video. You may enter as many tags as you like.

Language:

Tag / Phrase:
Please let us know a little about yourself:
Nationality:

Gender:

Born:

Profession or Interest:

Anything else you would like to tell us?

About this video

Country of Origin:
The Gambia
Interview Date:
11/05/08; 11/06/08
Location:
Arusha, Tanzania
Interviewers:
Lisa P. Nathan
Donald J Horowitz
Batya Friedman
Videographer:
Nell Carden Grey
Excerpt From:
Part 11
Submitted By:
Voices from the Rwanda Tribunal team