The Uncondemned

In the aftermath of the 1994 Rwandan genocide, the UN established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes. The Uncondemned tells the gripping story of the ICTR’s trial of Jean-Paul Akayesu, which marked the first time in history that rape was prosecuted as a crime against humanity and also a crime of genocide. The Uncondemned follows the international team of lawyers and activists who fought to bring Akayesu to justice, and the brave Rwandan women who came forward to testify against him.

For this campaign, we worked with community groups in The Democratic Republic of Congo and Haiti, two countries heavily affected by sexual violence during conflict and where pending International Criminal Court (ICC) cases existed. Our collective efforts furthered work to implement services to protect survivors, bolster women’s leadership, and prevent conflict. Our work included:

Worked with grassroots groups in the DRC to protect survivors of sexual violence

To help facilitate the culture change needed to destigmatize survivors and start the conversation around justice for survivors, we worked with a grassroots partner, Synergie des Associations Feminines du Congo (a women-led network of organizations that support survivors of sexual violence). Together we launched a campaign of screenings, discussions, and workshops on lobbying for justice, in eight regions with the highest rates of human rights violations in the DRC. Participants included survivors, politicians, private sector officials, and community leaders from across the country.

Joined forces with local legal teams in Haiti to advance policy reforms

Joined forces with legal teams in Haiti to advance survivor-centered reforms. To help hold the Haitian government accountable to survivors, we held screenings with those enforcing laws around sexual violence. Notably, as a result of these screenings, the Haitian National Police Academy mandated of trainings around gender-based violence.