The trial of Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo, the first trial arising out of the situation in the Central African Republic, opened on 22 November 2010.  The Bemba trial is expected to have the largest number of witnesses testifying as victims/survivors of sexual violence of any ICC trial to date.  It is the first case at the ICC to charge command responsibility for rape, and has the largest number of participating victims, with over 750 victims accepted to participate as of the start of trial.

In July 2009 the Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice requested and was granted leave to prepare an amicus curiae brief in the Bemba case on the dismissal of charges for gender based crimes, becoming the first and to date only international women’s human rights organisation to have been recognised with amicus curiae status at the ICC.

Read the statement given by Brigid Inder, Executive Director of Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice, at the NGO Press Conference at the ICC.

Read the Legal Filings filed in the Bemba case by Women’s Initiatives for Gender Justice as amicus curiae.