“Silence has been our biggest wound” Survivor-Advocate Elizabeth Atieno on Victims’ Rights at the ICC

Elizabeth Atieno knows first-hand the importance of victims’ rights – and the frustration when these rights are not realised. She is an advocate for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence in Kenya, working with the community-based organisation Grace Agenda, and a survivor of sexual violence that took place during the 2007/2008 post-election violence in Kenya, in which over 3,000 people were reportedly raped.

The International Criminal Court (ICC) opened an investigation into the post-election violence in 2010. However, multiple cases were withdrawn or collapsed due to systemic interference, including witness intimidation, and government non-cooperation. In 2023, the Court announced that it would be dropping all further investigations.

Elizabeth spoke to us about her experience engaging the ICC and the broader challenges that survivors face in accessing justice.

To learn more about the key gaps in the Court’s approach to victim outreach and participation at the ICC, read the Victims’ Rights Working Group’s position paper.

What is your experience engaging with the Court?

When the ICC came to Kenya, there was no opportunity for survivors of sexual violence like me to interact with them. Silence has been our biggest wound. We were not only violated – we were forgotten.

The ICC came with hope but left us with more questions than answers. It is a disturbing reality that the Court is so far behind in terms of its survivor-centred approach, inclusion, and meaningful participation of victims.

How could your experience have been improved?

The ICC needs to create a relationship with survivors and victims. Without that relationship, there can never be meaningful interaction.

Secondly, it needs to consult with survivors in its processes. It’s not right that people have ideas of what justice and reparation means to victims without listening to the victims themselves. T Consultation is not a favour—it is a right. Survivors know what justice means for them. It’s all about adopting a co-creation approach, whereby survivors are at the centre of everything from conception to design to implementation.

The ICC needs to adopt survivor-centred frameworks like the Murad Code, which sets out clear principles on how survivors should be treated with dignity, respect and agency.

The ICC recognises key rights for victims, such as their right to have legal representation, to participate in proceedings, and to receive reparation. In your view, are these rights being fulfilled?

In my experience, these rights have not been realised. Here in Kenya, it is 18 years since we went through the heartbreaking experiences that we went through, and nobody has ever come to our rescue. Every year that passes without justice feels like another violation.

Six cases were filed at the ICC, but the cases collapsed because witnesses were compromised, even though the Court is supposed to provide witness protection. We still haven’t received any form of justice or acknowledgement, even from our own government. Even those who received the assistance were not informed when it ended. Every year that passes without justice feels like another violation. For me, justice delayed is justice denied.

How could outreach to victims be improved?

Victim outreach is absolutely crucial. The approach should be co-creation—a policy that was developed by the SEMA network. Because if justice institutions cannot protect the most vulnerable, then who are they truly serving? Survivors should be at the heartbeat of everything. Regular interaction with survivors would change the game.

Do you think better access to legal aid would improve victims’ ability to participate in ICC proceedings?

Improving legal aid should be a first priority, because if that is not done, how are most survivors going to get justice? Survivors are not asking for pity. We are asking for dignity, accountability, and truth.

One of the biggest problems that we have in Kenya is that nobody has ever been held accountable. Most survivors don’t participate because they don’t even know that they’ve got a right to legal aid.

What if legal professionals, including the prosecutors, would sit and listen to survivors and tell them how they can file a case in Court? I think such training could really make a serious difference.

Does a lack of victim participation affect the legitimacy of the ICC?

I think the ICC should carry out a global survey to see how victims and survivors perceive it. Because for me, I feel like the Court is more for perpetrators than victims. And if it does not start working with survivors, then in the next 10 years, will the Court still be there? I don’t think so.

How can institutions like the ICC uplift victims’ voices and champion the rights of SGBV victims?

It’s all about empowering grassroots survivor-led organisations. Maybe the ICC cannot interact with all the survivors, but it can build the capacity of two or three of us to provide support.

Tools like Synergy for Justice’s CARSV Stigma Toolkit for Justice can help the ICC to finally become survivor-centred and trauma-informed. The toolkit gives justice actors a clear road map on how to remove stigma, build trust, and make sure survivors feel safe enough to share their stories and pursue justice. It also helps to break harmful assumptions that often silences survivors. ‎If the ICC and other justice institutions used these tools, they would be able to listen to survivors better, prosecute more cases, and reduce impunity.

‎Adopting these approaches is not just about making survivors comfortable. It is about building stronger justice systems that are fair, accountable and survivor-led.

What would you like people to understand about the reality for survivors?

Survivors continue to live in very extreme environments, facing rejection and stigma every day. The world must stop treating survivors as statistics. We are people—mothers, daughters, sisters—living with scars that don’t fade.

Our government has totally refused to listen to us, and there have been a series of brutal killings of people who are speaking out against them. Yet, we cannot remain silent, because there must be accountability. There must be reparations.

I started advocating at a very young age. I was doing it out of pain. I was doing it out of the anger that I was feeling at that time. And I was doing it because I wanted someone to go to jail. Now, I do it because it’s I feel it’s my duty. I feel it’s my calling to protect not just survivors here in Kenya—but also all over the world.