Editorial

This is the first issue for the year 2021, the second year of our journal. Again, for this second volume, we have several interesting contributions from a variety of authors and backgrounds.

The first contribution is from Conny Rijken, Leyla Khadraoui and Marian Tankink. They discuss in their article that secondary victimisation during criminal proceedings is a serious risk for victims of trafficking who participate in these proceedings. Psychological consequences of trafficking and pre-existing vulnerabilities make them prone to secondary victimisation. Based on empirical study of trafficking victims, stakeholders and research of criminal files, the article provides insights into the psychological consequences of human trafficking and identifies a number of risk factors. These include lack of identification, safety and trust, not being believed, repetition and intensity of hearings, disrespectful treatment and little empathy and lack of knowledge about victim’s rights. These factors are discussed and contextualised in the current discourse with the ultimate aim to provide suggestions for the prevention of secondary victimisation. The article uncovers the discrepancy between victims’ expectations towards the police to take them out of a trafficking situation even if they decline assistance on the one hand and the police’s perceptions on their ability to intervene only if the victim accepts assistance on the other. This leads to the authors’ call for further research in order to answer the question to intervene or not to intervene through law enforcement.

Following the recent conviction of Dominic Ongwen on 4 February 2021 at the ICC, the second article offers a discussion of three renowned experts, namely Victoria Nyanjura (Survivor, Founder Women in Action for Women, Uganda), Joseph Manoba (Lawyer and Legal Representative for Victims in Ongwen case) and Lorraine Smith van Lin (independent victims’ rights expert) about the impact of these proceedings. The Ongwen case concerns Lord Resistance Army’s (LRA) commander Dominic Ongwen, who was found guilty of a total of 61 crimes comprising crimes against humanity and war crimes, including many conflict-related sexual and gender-based violence crimes, committed in Northern Uganda between 1 July 2002 and 31 December 2005. On 6 May 2021, Dominic Ongwen was sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for these crimes. In a Q&A session, the experts provided insight in the complexity of this case, including how the judgment and sentence is perceived by LRA victims and survivors in Uganda.

The third, also timely, contribution from Sunneva Gilmore discusses the Bosco Ntaganda case at the ICC, the long awaited first reparation decision on conflict-related sexual violence at the court. This decision will see the implementation of reparations for rape and sexual slavery among civilians and former child soldiers, after previous acquittals of rape such as the cases of Jean-Pierre Bembe and Laurent Gbagbo. Gilmore’s article, drawing from the author’s role as an expert in the case, is a reflection on the challenges of designing and providing reparations at the ICC against convicted individuals, as well as amidst insecurity and the COVID-19 infectious disease pandemic. It begins by discussing how the Ntaganda reparation order expanded reparation principles for the first time since the Lubanga case, in particular for crimes of a sexual nature. This is followed by a discussion of the specific harms that result from sexual violence from the perspective of a medical expert. The analysis then turns to the appropriate reparations in this case and the details of the Chamber’s reparation order. Final conclusions consider how the procedural and substantive elements of reparations in this case will be instructive to future cases that address sexual violence. Ultimately, key insights are offered on the modest contribution an appointed reparation expert can make in assisting a Trial Chamber in the reparation process.

The final contribution by Manouk van de Klundert discusses stigmatisation in the case of sexual terrorism committed by Boko Haram. As criminal justice for this crime is rarely obtained, van de Klundert seeks to find ways to bring social justice to its survivors. However, the stigmatisation of the survivors, which is signaled to frequently occur, hampers this process greatly, van de Klundert argues. As survivors of sexual terrorism suffer from stigma, they are being denied social justice, since their position in society is compromised or their suffering is even being denied. This article comprises a literature review that aims to combine published work concerning sexual terrorism, social justice and stigma in an explorative, yet systematic way to identify underlying mechanisms and classify potential ways forward. It was found that stigmatisation, both from wider society as survivors’ close connections, can have a great psychological impact, on top of the frequently severe physical, psychological, and socio-economic consequences that sexual terrorism already brings forward. Six kinds of interventions were found to reduce the survivor’s suffering and stigmatisation, thereby enlarging their social justice.

We hope you enjoy reading these insightful articles.