Native legal professional fights for compelled marriage survivors at international court docket

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Greater than two decades after Sierra Leone’s civil battle stuck the eye of a London-area legal professional, its legacy has impressed a keenness to do extra to assist girls and women compelled into marriage.

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“My major center of attention, as a world legal professional, is to make certain that gender problems get the eye they deserve when crimes like rape and sexual slavery and compelled marriage happen in battle,” mentioned Valerie Oosterveld, a human rights legal professional and Western College professor.

“For too lengthy, gender crimes were disregarded via the world neighborhood and via investigators and prosecutors,” she mentioned. “It’s beginning to exchange, but it surely wishes to switch extra.”

Throughout the Sierra Leone war, 1000’s of women have been kidnapped via two rebellion teams and compelled to serve “as so-called better halves to combatants,” she mentioned.

“They have been compelled to endure and rear youngsters. They suffered long-lasting stigma, and have been ostracized via their communities and households. I may see this crime had long-lasting. deep results on a neighborhood and society.”

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A Sierra Leone particular court docket, which Oosterveld helped to arrange, was once the primary to prosecute compelled marriage. “It actually modified the sport in world felony legislation,” she mentioned.

“It issues out that what took place to those women was once now not . . . only a side-effect of armed war (however) against the law for which people might be sentenced and serve jail time,” she added. “The sufferers have been so thankful to have their struggling identified at once via that court docket.”

This 12 months, Oosterveld travelled to the Global Felony Courtroom (ICC) in The Hague to suggest for girls and women compelled to marry combatants from the Uganda’s Lord’s Resistance Military (LRA).

Representing 8 different feminist legal professionals from Australia, Canada, the Netherlands, Nigeria, and the U.S., she testified in opposition to a Ugandan guy convicted of 61 fees of crimes in opposition to humanity.

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In 2021, the court docket discovered brigade commander Dominic Ongwenhad had no less than 100 kidnapped girls and women elderly 10 to 18 function “better halves” to his male squaddies between 2002 and 2005. Ongwenhad is interesting the decision.

“They have been anticipated to supply intercourse on call for, to prepare dinner, to wash,” Oosterveld mentioned. “They lived in a state of terror. They might be killed (any time) or from time to time compelled to kill others. Many changed into pregnant and gave start within the bush with out a hospital therapy. They watched their youngsters die.”

The Lord’s Resistance Military, a gaggle of Christian fundamentalists, was once based in 1987 via Joseph Kony, who promoted himself as a prophet. It was once implicated in homicide, child-sex slavery and recruiting 1000’s of kid squaddies.

Oosterveld, additionally an area legislation knowledgeable, acted as a gender knowledgeable for Canada whilst the Global Felony Courtroom was once being arrange and later labored for Canada’s Overseas Affairs Division, serving to discovered each the ICC and the Sierra Leone particular court docket.

HRivers@postmedia.com

Twitter.com/HeatheratLFP