The following blog was originally posted on the International Justice Monitor website. (2 September 2015) Today, September 2, the trial of Bosco Ntaganda began at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This will be an important trial for the court in many ways and will be followed with particular interest both in the…
The following blog was originally posted on the International Justice Monitor website. (2 September 2015) Today, September 2, the trial of Bosco Ntaganda began at the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. This will be an important trial for the court in many ways and will be followed with particular interest both in the…
Five years after the death of Congolese human rights activist, Floribert Chebeya and the disappearance of his colleague Fidèle Bazana shook the Congolese human rights community, the fight for justice continues. Although eight people have been found in connection with the case in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC), activists argue that the truth is…
The following blog was originally posted on the International Justice Monitor website. (24 August, 2015) On August 21, 2015, the International Criminal Court (ICC) heard arguments about whether or not to release Thomas Lubanga, the first person to be convicted by the court. As required under Article 110 of the Rome Statute, the ICC will…
On Sunday 9 August, the Ugandan government announced that Sudan’s President Omar Bashir would join Ugandan president, Yoweri Museveni, Kenya’s president, Uhuru Kenyatta and Ethiopian Prime Minister, Hailemariam Desalegn in Entebbe to discuss the political crisis in neighbouring South Sudan. The Ugandan government assured Bashir that they would not arrest him. As the government spokesperson…
Burundians recently headed to the polls in a strongly contested election that was boycotted by most of the opposition in protest of the president’s decision to seek a third term. While there has been much discussion of the legitimacy of the elections and possibilities for transition, mostly from those in Bujumbura or who have recently…
For years, people have wondered if Hissène Habré would ever be brought to justice. Therefore, the start of his trial in Dakar, Senegal on 20 July 2015 by the Extraordinary African Chambers marks an important turning point in the fight against impunity on the African continent. Hissène Habré has been indicted for crimes against humanity,…
Members of the AU Peace and Security Council African Union Headquarters P.O. Box 3243 Roosevelt Street Old Airport Area W21K19 Addis Ababa Ethiopia Cc: Dr Nkosazana Dlamini Zuma, Chairperson, AU Commission Ambassador Smaïl Chergui, Commissioner, Peace and Security H.E. Olusegun Obasanjo, Chairperson, AU Commission of Inquiry on South Sudan Your Excellencies, RE: PUBLICATION OF THE…
In Burundi, the disconnect between the mechanisms of democracy and its application could not be more stark. The government seems to be taking the approach that as long as elections are formally held then its legitimacy to hold onto the reins of power will be affirmed. Multiple opposition groups, not surprisingly, strongly dispute this approach…
These are reflections from a Burundian activist. His name has been withheld for his own security. Burundians have just finished the elections of local council members and parliamentarians. These elections happened in a context of political crisis triggered by the decision of President Nkurunziza to run for a third term. The opposition argued that Nkurunziza…
On 8 April 2015, the Supreme Court of Uganda decided the matter of Uganda vs. Kweyelo and set a new precedent that narrowed the application of Uganda’s Amnesty Act, clarifying that not all crimes are eligible for amnesty – only those that are political crimes, or those that are directly linked to the rebel group’s political…
This blog first appeared on the African Arguments website. The relationship between the International Criminal Court (ICC) and African civil society is certainly an interesting one. On the one hand, the proliferation of conflict on the continent has led to an ever increasing deficit in justice, and the ICC is seen by some as a…
When the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC or “the Court”) was adopted in 1998, it was greeted with great fanfare by human rights activists around the world as an important milestone in the progress of the human rights movement. As the Court began to investigate its first cases in 2003-04, many civil…
(This blog first appeared on the International Justice Monitor, a project of the Open Society Justice Initiative.) On June 27, a Dutch court refused the appeal of three former the International Criminal Court (ICC) witnesses, Floribert Ndjabu Ngabu, Sharif Manda Ndadza Dz’Na, and Pierre-Célestin Mbodina Iribi, for asylum in the Netherlands. The witnesses, who were previously in…
The verdict in the case against Germain Katanga, the alleged commander of the Forces de Résistance Patriotique en Ituri (FRPI), for war crimes and crimes against humanity in relation to an attack on the village of Bogoro in Ituri, Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) is being awaited with impatience in Ituri. Having followed trials at the…
This blog was first posted by the Open Society Justice Initiative. In the early morning hours of November 24, police in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) arrested Fidèle Babala Wandu, a member of the DRC Parliament and Deputy Secretary General of the Movement for the Liberation of Congo (MLC) (the party of Jean-Pierre Bemba)…
(Kampala, November 1, 2013) — The African Commission on Human and Peoples’ Rights (ACHPR) should order a fact-finding mission to investigate the deaths and detention of hundreds of demonstrators, a group of 11 international and African organizations said in a letter made public today. The organizations called on the African Commission to send a fact-finding…
This may be the first time that a former African Head of State is put on trial in Africa. On 8 February 2013, the Extraordinary African Chambers embedded in the Senegalese justice system were inaugurated in order to judge Hissène Habré, the former president of Chad, who ruled from 1982 to 1990. Habré has been…
International criminal justice on the African continent is at a critical juncture: on 26-27 May 2013, at the 21st Session of the African Union, Africa’s leaders reaffirmed their concern with ‘the misuse of indictments against African leaders’, and stressed ‘the need for international justice to be conducted in a transparent and fair manner, in order…
