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…
Violence in Africa seems particularly prone to the scourge of one-dimensional descriptions. Often described as ethnic or tribal, and sometimes as sectarian, the media prescribes an adjective that quickly becomes accepted as gospel and this explanation is then hard to shift. Thus we are told that the recent outbreak of violence in South Sudan is ethnic(Nuer…
The Convention for the Protection and Assistance of Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs) in Africa – the Kampala Convention – was adopted by the African Union (AU) Heads of State Special Summit in Kampala, Uganda, on 23 October 2009. It is the first independent legally binding regional instrument in the world to impose on states the…
Promoting Accountability for International Crimes in Africa (En français)
On the occasion of World Refugee Day, the International Refugee Rights Initiative (IRRI) would like to draw the attention of the authorities and Senegalese public opinion to the situation of refugees. Senegal has signed and ratified international and regional conventions relating to the 1951 UN and the 1969 OAU Conventions on refugees. In addition, Senegal…
The introductory note to the series lays out the key questions that will be considered by the series. It will reflect local perspectives on international justice as it is being experienced in Africa. It aims to deepen the debate around a series of key questions and controversies facing the realisation of international justice, anchored in…
