Abstract:
This article analysed article 16 of the United Nation convention relating to
the status of refugees 1951, which provides free access to courts in the
contracting states for all refugees, in relation to victims of sexual violence
in refugee camps. However, it was found that with the current state of
affairs in the domestic criminal justice system, a victim of crime has no
legal standing to have direct access to a court for the enforcement of his or
her rights. Instead, the crime is considered as against the state and not
against the individual victims, and this has caused severe hardships for
victims of sexual violence in refugee camps. Thus, for a victim to benefit
maximally and enjoy the requisite free access to court, we argue that
victims of sexual violence in a refugee camp should be accorded the locus
standi and made a co-party to the prosecution of their perpetrators, as a
paradigm shift from the current domestic and international criminal
justice system that uses victims as a witness for the state prosecution, so
that victims can assert their rights and plead for the required remedy and
reparation that will ameliorate their plight. In order to achieve this, the
authors are advocating for law reform of both the domestic and
international criminal justice system to reflect victims’ rights as coprosecutor
of their assailant.
