Echoes Linger From the First Global Women's
Court of Accountability

By Dee Aker

Women war survivors join global judges and expert human rights defenders in historic event.

In the first global public hearing of its kind in North America, women survivors of war crimes, witnesses, and peacemakers from Burundi, northern Uganda, Nigeria, Tunisia, Iraq, Bosnia, Afghanistan, Sri Lanka, Zimbabwe, and the Philippines came together to testify before a U.S. audience and a distinguished panel of judges headed by the honorable Justice Richard Goldstone, Chief Prosecutor in the Rwanda and former Yugoslavia tribunals, and Fatou Bensouda, Deputy Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court in The Hague.

The women survivors had traveled great distances to bare their stories, signifying an unflinching determination to demand accountability and advance their own healing.

According to organizers, the mock-tribunal, held at the Joan B. Kroc Institute for Peace and Justice in San Diego at the close of 2005, was a collective act to acknowledge the profound depth and cost of human rights abuses against women in conflict, and an examination of the international laws and tools available to achieve justice.

Although accountability tribunals for women, also known as "Women's Courts" are an increasingly frequent phenomenon in the global South, it is extremely rare for such a court to be held in the global North. In the global South, and also notably in the Arab world, women have taken the lead in exposing forced sexual slavery during conflict, intentional genocide through rape, and targeted sexual and physical abuse of young women and girls by armed forces.

"The Courts of Women are a new political space" declares El Taller, an international nongovernmental organization which has organized 18 such courts in the global South. "In the Courts, the voices of the victims/survivors are listened to. They are 'sacred' spaces where women, speaking in a language of suffering, name the crimes, seeking redress, even reparation. It challenges the master narratives of our times."

The act of testifying in San Diego took tremendous strength. Many witnesses to the proceedings found their cheeks streaming with tears. The judges listened intently.

"I cannot forget the first time I killed. I was ordered by my 'husband' to put a baby in a large pounding mortar and kill by pounding the baby. ...It got easier."

Sister Pauline Acayo, a nun in Northern Uganda, stood before the judges and told the stories entrusted to her by young girls she works with who had been abducted as sex slaves by rebels. For her work with the traumatized children, Sister Pauline herself lives under death threats.

"Now I can feel I have given these children a voice; while it has been an honor to have my story recorded, I live it for these children," she said.

A tiny, 77-year-old Menen Castillo humbly spoke of how she was turned into a "sex slave" by the Japanese Army at age 14 during WWII.

Her eyes filled with tears as she pleaded for some recognition of, and apologies for, what the Japanese soldiers did to her and so many young girls, day after day, night after night, in numbers beyond sane memory at their military garrison in Arayat. Fewer and fewer of the thousands upon thousands of women from the Philippines, Korea, Malaysia, Indonesia and other south Asian countries forced to serve the Japanese army who have awaited apologies are now alive to hear them should they come. But survivors like Castillo continue to demand accountability.

Although accustomed to hearing such searing testimonies on a regular basis, the judges were highly impacted by the event. "I would not have missed this," said Judge Fatou, who had come close to canceling due to pressing business at the Hague. "The testimonies were humbling and powerful. I have truly learned from this process and I will not forget it."

Judges submitted a public indictment at the culmination of the emotional proceedings which will be used by participants to further their own local advocacy work. The indictment was made "on behalf of women throughout history and throughout the world who have suffered unspeakable abuse."

According to the indictment: "When far-reaching violations of international law occur, people of conscience have a solemn responsibility to inquire into the nature and scope of these acts.

"When perpetrators of such acts are not held accountable, people of conscience have a solemn responsibility to seek justice on behalf of victims."

These are words that will long echo in the ears of those who witnessed the historic court.

SELECT GLOBAL WOMEN'S COURT OF ACCOUNTABILITY PARTICIPANTS

Dilkwaz Ahmed is an Iraqi human rights activist and survivor of the anti-Kurdish campaign orchestrated by Saddam Hussein.

Adriana Bartow is still searching for justice after Guatemalan security forces killed her brother and disappeared her father and two of her daughters, ages 9 and 10.

Golalei Nur represents the province of Mazar-e Sharif in the Afghan National Parliament and works to address violence against women in her country.

Justice Richard Goldstone is one of the world's most respected jurists and human rights defenders.

Fatou Bensouda is the Deputy Prosecutor of The International Criminal Court in The Hague.

Carmen Kcomt is a family court judge from Peru forced to leave her country because of her work for human rights.

Selmin Caliskan is an advocate for war-traumatized women and girls in war and post-war regions, including Afghanistan and Bosnia.

Nelia Sancho is an expert for Filipino "Comfort Women" and an advocate for trafficked women in Southeast Asia.

Joy Ngozi Ezeilo, founder of the Women's Aid Collective, has defended dozens of women raped and abused by military personnel in Nigeria.

Mary Ann Arnado coordinated a civil society cease-fire monitoring campaign in Mindanao, the Philippines.

Katrina Anderson served as a legal advisor to the Documentation Center of Cambodia to address crimes against women perpetrated by the Khmer Rouge.

Roxanna Altholz, staff attorney at the Center for Justice and International Law in D.C., has represented hundreds of victims of human rights litigation.

Menen Castillo, age 76, is president of Lolas Kampanyera, a support group for Filipino "Comfort Women" who served as sex slaves to the Japanese during WWII.

Sister Pauline Acayo works with sex slaves and child soldiers in northern Uganda.