The Use of Population-Based Surveys for Prosecutions at the International Criminal Court

• DOI: 10.1177/1057567714523982
• Author: Kirsten Johnson,Michael Kisielewski,Lynn Lawry,Juan Carlos Rosa,Jerzy Wieczorek,Jennifer Scott,Alette Smeulers,Anne-Marie de Brouwer
• Date: 01 March 2014
• Published date: 01 March 2014
• Subject Matter: Articles

Article

The Use of Population-Based

Surveys for Prosecutions at

the International Criminal

Court: A Case Study

of Democratic Republic

of Congo

Lynn Lawry

1,2

, Anne-Marie de Brouwer

3

,

Alette Smeulers

3

, Juan Carlos Rosa

2

,

Michael Kisielewski

4

, Kirsten Johnson

5

,

Jennifer Scott

1,6

, and Jerzy Wieczorek

7

Abstract

Combined with traditional qualitative data and testimonies, population-based studies may assist

investigators and prosecutors of international judicial institutions in the identification of perpetrator

groups and in defining the types of international crimes committed by active perpetrator groups

during conflict. This research—based on a secondary analysis of data from a cross-sectional study

of the North Kivu and South Kivu provinces and the Ituri district in Democratic Republic of

Congo—provides a case study to demonstrate how population-based surveys might have value

to International Criminal Court (ICC) prosecutions. These data reveal crimes committed during the

conflicts constitute crimes against humanity and war crimes and identify the perpetrator groups

most responsible for these crimes. Compared to current prosecutions at the ICC, this research

finds that leaders of the Mai-Mai and Interahamwe among other groups not charged by the ICC,

were most active in North Kivu and South Kivu provinces for perpetrating sexual and physical vio-

lence. Population-based surveys, in addition to traditional qualitative data and testimonies, may aid

ICC investigators and prosecutors, particularly in the identification of perpetrator groups and in

defining the types of international crimes committed by active perpetrator groups during conflict.

1

Division of Women’s Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, Boston, MA, USA

2

Lawry Research Associates International, Waldorf, MD, USA

3

Department of Criminal Law, Tilburg University, Tilburg, The Netherlands

4

American Sociological Association, Washington, DC, USA

5

Department of Family Medicine, McGill University, Montreal, QC, USA

6

Department of Obstetrics and Gynecology, Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, Boston, MA, USA

7

Department of Statistics, Carnegie Mellon University, Pittsburgh, PA, USA

Corresponding Author:

Lynn Lawry, Division of Women’s Health, Brigham and Women’s Hospital/Harvard Medical School, Boston MA 02115, USA.

Email: llawry@ihresearch.org

International CriminalJustice Review

2014, Vol. 24(1) 5-21

ª2014 Georgia State University

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DOI: 10.1177/1057567714523982

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Keywords

Democratic Republic of Congo, conflict, human rights violations, sexual violence, crimes against

humanity, transitional justice

Introduction

The conflict in Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) is generally considered as one of the most

violent conflicts in the world, which has led to mass victimization (Hawkins, 2008; United Nations

Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, 2010), tremendous suffering, and the endan-

gering of international peace and security (UN SC Res. 1291). The protracted conflict, in which

many different militarized units and groups were active, consists of distinct periods: March 1993

to March 2000, April 2000 to March 2007, and April 2008 to March 2010. These periods are marked

by egregious human rights abuses and unprecedented violence against civilian populations, with

millions dying of direct or indirect causes of the conflict. Furthermore, the conflict is interlinked

with other regional conflicts, including the 1994 Rwandan Genocide (Coghlan, 2006; Prunier,

2009).

Many different armed groups were active in these conflicts (Congo Civil War, 2012). Those

include politically aligned groups such as Forces Arme

´es de la Re

´publique De

´mocratique du Congo

(FARDC, or government forces), Rassemblement Congolais pour la De

´mocratie-Goma (RDCG),

and ethnic aligned groups such as the Patriotic Union of Congolese (UPC), Forces Patriotiques pour

la Libe

´ration du Congo (FPLC), the Front for National Integration (FNI), the Patriotic Force of

Resistance in Ituri (FRPI), the People’s Armed Forces of Congo (FAPC), and the Mai-Mai (Human

Rights Watch, 2005a; Human Rights Watch, 2010). Other groups involved include nationals alleg-

edly backed by other countries such as the Democratic Forces for the Liberation of Rwanda (FDLR),

the Interahamwe, the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC), the Allied Democratic Forces/

National Army for the Liberation of Uganda (ADF-NALU), Ugandan People’s Defense Force

(UPDF: Ugandan national armed forces), and finally the Ugandan Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA).

The government of DRC referred the situation to the ICC on March 3, 2003, and investigations

started on June 21, 2004. Currently, six suspects have been indicted for a number of war crimes and

crimes against humanity, including Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, a UPC/FPLC leader. Thus far, Lubanga

is the only suspect to be convicted by the ICC, on March 14, 2012 (Prosecutor v. Thomas Lubanga

Dyilo, 2012).

Current understanding of conflict-related human rights violations in DRC is based largely on

anecdotal, advocacy-driven, and/or qualitative data (Bartels, Kelly, Leaning, Scott, & Van Rooyen,

2008; Eriksson Baaz, & Stern, 2008; Human Rights Watch, 2002; Kelly, Van Rooyen, Leaning, &

Cragin, 2009; Murray, Bass, Bolton, 2006; Wakabi, 2008) and previous analysis of population-based

data potentially useful in prosecutions are limited in scope with regard to human rights violations

and focused on the health consequences of human rights abuses (Johnson et al., 2010; Vinck, Pham,

Baldo, & Shigekane, 2008). This secondary analysis of previously collected data drew upon three

distinct time periods of DRC’s conflict to reveal the prevalence of human rights violations from

1993 to 2010 in eastern DRC territories and to present patterns of reported physical, movement, and

sexual violations by province, distinct time periods, and combatant perpetrator groups. The data

resulting from the population-based survey reveal the nature and extent of crimes committed in east-

ern DRC (Ituri, North, and South Kivu) and perpetrator groups most often reported by the victims as

responsible for the crimes committed in each conflict time period. In several instances, this second-

ary analysis reveals patterns in more detail than case reports and/or qualitative and quantitative data

reported previously. We use DRC as a case study to show how population-based surveys might have

value and significant policy implications for current and future ICC prosecutions by evaluating these

data against current ICC prosecutions on DRC.

6International Criminal Justice Review 24(1)