On July 31, Women’s Initiatives filed amicus curiae observations on the issue of cumulative charging for gender-based crimes in Prosecutor v. Jean-Pierre Bemba Gombo. This submission followed the Pre-Trial Chamber’s July 17 order granting the Women’s Initiatives’ request for leave to file. The brief argues that in its decision confirming the charges against Bemba, the Pre-Trial Chamber improperly dismissed charges of torture as a crime against humanity and outrages upon personal dignity as a war crime, on the grounds that these charges were cumulative to the charges of rape. The Women’s Initiatives is one of only five organizations or ‘bodies’, and the only international women’s rights organization, to be granted amicus curiae status before the ICC since the Court’s inception.