Recharacterizing the Lubanga Case: Regulation 55 and the Consequences for Gender Justice at the ICC

The omission of charges related to sexual violence in the case of Thomas Lubanga Dyilo was controversial and disappointing from a gender perspective, given the prevalence of sexual violence in the conflict in the Democratic Republic of Congo and the expectations on the ICC as a gender progressive institution. In 2009, in an attempt to remedy this omission, victim advocates successfully argued that the Trial Chamber should utilize the process under Regulation 55 of the Court to consider legally recharacterizing the charges against Lubanga to include charges of sexual slavery and cruel and inhuman treatment. The decision was later reversed on appeal and the possibility of legal recharacterization dismissed. This article analyzes the Court’s decisions in relation to recharacterization in the Lubanga case, and the negative implications of the approach adopted for gender justice at the ICC. The article advances an alternative, gender-sensitive approach to recharacterization under Regulation 55 of the Court that would have supported the possibility of legal recharacterization to the crime of sexual slavery in Lubanga and which would facilitate the prosecution of crimes of sexual violence in future cases before the ICC.