Onus is on civil society, NGOs
The International Crimes Tribunal, civil society and NGOs can do a lot to ensure justice for the rape victims of the Liberation War, said American war crimes trial expert Laurel E Fletcher.
In an exclusive interview with The Daily Star, she also said the tribunal must create an environment where the victims would feel secure to come forward to seek trial of those responsible for the most horrific incident of their lives.
Other social bodies may encourage them to testify at the trial, she added.
A clinical visiting professor of law at Yale Law School in the United States, Fletcher observed that trying the perpetrators of sexual atrocities after 39 years would be difficult, but not impossible.
She believes the collaborators who did not necessarily commit rape but assisted the Pakistani occupation forces or provoked them can still be brought to trial.
"If they [collaborators] were involved in enabling the rape to happen by others, they can still be held accountable, not for the rape itself but for assisting in the crimes to take place," she said in response to a query.
Visiting Bangladesh recently, Fletcher has talked on several occasions about the country's move to try the war criminals.
She said there is no legal bar to prosecuting the crimes of sexual violation [crimes against humanity] years later.
"But the question is how to find the evidence. I think organisations like the Liberation War Museum and researchers have collected evidence of sexual violence of 1971. So it would not be tough to prove the widespread and systematic sexual violation during the war," she continued.
The women who had fallen victim to sexual violation can recount their experience before the tribunal, and that narration would be considered valid as evidence.
"But it is very difficult for many women. In fact, they will need tremendous amount of courage because of social stigma what is a fact to sexual violence. So, challenges remain to encourage the victims."
Fletcher suggested that the Bangladesh tribunal should gain experience from those in Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, where crimes of sexual violation were prosecuted.
"In each of the tribunals, it was difficult for the victims to testify. But the prosecutors have been able to have them talk about what happened to them."
She noted that the tribunal here can make some special arrangements for the victims to come up and testify to ensure punishment to the culprits.
It should also make sure that the victim women can testify only before the judges, defence and prosecution so that their identities remain protected from the public, she added.
"The victims should not be photographed in the newspapers. Their identities should be kept confidential."
Besides, she said, the tribunal needs to have female investigators, and the prosecutors should come on stage immediately to encourage the victims to testify.
The tribunal should also protect the victims in case they are threatened before or after their testimony.
The civil society may come forward by providing the victims psychological support. The tribunal and NGOs can initiate a public campaign to encourage the victims to tell their stories as part of making the historical record about what happened to them in 1971, Fletcher added.
Moreover, the victims should be given compensation and support so that the state acknowledges their sufferings.
In the tribunals of Yugoslavia, Rwanda and Sierra Leone, it was possible to produce evidence of widespread and systematic sexual violence before the judges and thus convict the perpetrators, Fletcher said.
Alongside the testimony of the victims, the evidence of sexual violence should exist in the orders and the policy and in the statements that were made in 1971. Therefore, it should not be tough to prove that women were attacked and kept confined to camps during the Liberation War, she said.
"So, it can be done in Bangladesh too," she hopes.
Fletcher said the trial of crimes against humanity and other war crimes may take a long time because of inherent complexities. But it should be done maintaining international standards.
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