The International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) will soon set up special tribunals in member states to expeditiously try cases of sexual and gender based violence.It is among several other decisions to be implemented as a follow up of the Kampala Declaration on the fight against sexual and gender based violence that was agreed on during ICGLR Ordinary Summit in Kampala last year.The ICGLR planning meeting that ended in Kampala yesterday, agreed on a fast track mechanism that will ensure perpetrators of sexual violence are immediately arrested to face justice.“We shall have a whistle blower mechanism whereby in just 72 hours, the victim will receive medical treatment as the perpetrator gets apprehended to face the courts,” Dr. Jean Jacques Purusi Sadiki, the Executive Assistant to the ICGLR Executive Secretary told The New Times in Kampala yesterday.Immaculate Ingabire, the Coordinator of Rwanda’s National Coalition on Fighting Violence against women said that the implementation of the special tribunals will be left to prosecutors and Chief Justice of member states.“We are leaving it to them because each of the eleven countries has specific procedures and we can’t determine how they will work,” Ingabire said. She added that the meeting had also agreed on a campaign on zero tolerance on sexual and gender based violence to be launched at regional level by the ICGLR Heads of State Chairperson President Yoweri Museveni.“The campaign will be launched simultaneously among member states and it will last for a week,” Ingabire said.Meanwhile, the ICGLR Regional Inter-Ministerial Committee (RIMC) comprising of Ministers of Foreign Affairs will in May meet in Bangui, Central African Republic (CAR) to discuss unemployment among youth within the context of infrastructural development and investment.After the meeting, the Ministers will present a report to their relevant Heads of State for relevant action and later report to the next summit to take place after two years.
