Statute of the Extraordinary African Chambers

Statute of the Extraordinary African Chambers within the courts of Senegal created to prosecute international crimes committed in Chad between 7June 1982 and 1 December 1990 (Unofficial translation by Human Rights Watch)

Article 1 – Purpose The purpose of this Statute is to implement the decision of the African Union concerning the Republic of Senegal’s prosecution of international crimes committed in Chad between 7 June 1982 and 1 December 1990, in accordance with Senegal’s international commitments.

Article 2 – Establishment of the Extraordinary African Chambers Extraordinary African Chambers within the courts of the Republic of Senegal are hereby established as follows : a) one Investigative Chamber within the Tribunal Régional Hors Classe de Dakar; b) one Indicting Chamber within the Dakar Court of Appeals; c) one Trial Chamber within the Dakar Court of Appeals; and d) one Appeals Chamber attached to the Dakar Court of Appeals. Article 3 - Jurisdiction 1. The Extraordinary African Chambers shall have the power to prosecute and try the person or persons most responsible for crimes and serious violations of international law, customary international law and international conventions ratified by Chad, committed in the territory of Chad during the period from 7 June 1982 to 1 December 1990. 2. The Extraordinary African Chambers may choose to prosecute the most serious crimes within their jurisdiction.

Article 4 – Crimes within the jurisdiction of the Extraordinary African Chambers The Extraordinary African Chambers have jurisdiction in accordance with this Statute with respect to the following crimes: a) the crime of genocide; b) crimes against humanity; c) war crimes; and d) torture. Article 5 – Genocide For the purpose of this Statute, “genocide” means any of the following acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national, ethnical, racial or religious group, as such: a) Killing members of the group; b) Causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; c) Deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; d) Imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; or e) Forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

Article 6 – Crimes Against Humanity For the purpose of this Statute, “crime against humanity”means any of the following acts when committed as part of a widespread or systematic attack directed against any civilian population: a) Rape, sexual slavery, enforced prostitution, enforced sterilization, or any other form of sexual violence of comparable gravity; b) Murder; c) Extermination; d) Deportation; e) The crime of apartheid; f) The enslavement or massive and systematic practice of summary executions, kidnapping of persons followed by their enforced disappearance; g) Torture or inhumane acts intentionally causing great suffering or serious injury to body or to physical or mental health, on political, racial, national, ethnic, cultural, religious or gender grounds.

Article 7 – War Crimes 1. For the purpose of this Statute, a war crime means any of the following acts concerning members of the armed forces, prisoners of war, or civilians, or property protected under the provisions of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949: a) Murder; b) Torture or inhuman treatment, including biological experiments, or wilfully causing great physical or mental suffering; c) Extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly; d) Compelling a prisoner of war or other protected person to serve in the armed forces [sic]; e) Depriving a prisoner of war or other protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial; f) Unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement; g) Taking of hostages. 2. The Extraordinary African Chambers shall have jurisdiction to try persons who have committed grave breaches of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Armed Conflicts and of the Second Additional Protocol to the Geneva Conventions of 12 August 1949, and relating to the Protection of Victims of Non-International Armed Conflicts, of 8 June 1977. These violations include: a) Violence to life, health and physical or mental well-being of persons, in particular murder as well as cruel treatment such as torture, mutilation or any form of corporal punishment; b) Collective punishments; c) Taking of hostages; d) Acts of terrorism; e) Outrages upon personal dignity, in particular humiliating and degrading treatment, rape, enforced prostitution and any form of indecent assault; f) Pillage; g) The passing of sentences and the carrying out of executions without previous judgment pronounced by a regularly constituted court, affording all the judicial guarantees which are recognized as indispensable by civilized peoples; h) Threats to commit any of the foregoing acts. Article 8 - Torture For the purpose of this Statute, the term "torture" shall encompass anyact by which severe pain or suffering, whether physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted on a person for such purposes as obtaining from him or a third person information or a confession, punishing him for an act he or a third person has committed or is suspected of having committed, or intimidating or coercing him or a third person, or for any reason based on discrimination of any kind, when such pain or suffering is inflicted by or at the instigation of or with the consent or acquiescence of a public official or other person acting in an official capacity. It does not include pain or suffering arising only from, inherent in or incidental to lawful sanctions.No exceptional circumstances whatsoever, whether a state of war or a threat of war, internal political instability or any other public emergency, may be invoked as a justification of torture.

Article 9 – Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitations The crimes within the jurisdiction of the Extraordinary African Chambers shall not be subject to any statutory limitations.

(2013-09-03/hrw)