Tag Archives: ICC

Hot Topics – June 17

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Could sub-Sarahan Africa prove fertile ground for an uprising?
Andrew Mwenda, Ugandan political analyst, offers an interesting opinion on why Uganda, despite having  “a long-serving president with potential for a family succession; an increasingly educated and urbanised yet unemployed youth; a dominant ruling party backed by the military; a government increasingly seen as corrupt, nepotistic and incompetent,” is not fertile ground for an Arab-Spring style uprising.

Canadians weigh in on security in the DRC

John Baird, Canadian Minister for Foreign Affairs said this week that Canada is “deeply concerned” about the worsening of security in the Eastern DRC and that Canada is “encouraging all neighbouring countries to work with regional and international partners in support of peace…efforts in DRC.”

Another high-profile Canadian commenting on the DRC is President of the International Crisis Group (ICG) and former Canadian Supreme Court Justice, Louise Arbour. Arbour sent an open letter to the United Nations Security Council, criticizing the UN peacekeeping mission in the Congo (MONUSCO) for failing to protect civilians during the new wave of violence, and ignoring the root and local causes of conflict such as land ownership. Most disparagingly though, was Arbour’s claim that by providing logistical and technical assistance to the DRC for the extremely controversial November 2011 presidential elections without addressing key issues of governance, MONUSCO “risks entrenching an unaccountable government and undermining its own eventual rule of law and peacebuilding efforts”.

… meanwhile, according to The Economist…

In contrast, an article about UN peacekeeping in this week’s edition claims that, thanks to UN peacekeeping missions, “Africa is at its most peaceful for decades”. That said, the piece also characterizes the Congo mission, one of the most expensive in the world, as “the biggest mess of them all”.

Important contributions to the conversation about sexual violence and violence against women

Association des Femmes des Medias-Sud Kivu (AFEM-SK), a local Congolese female-led media advocacy group based out of South Kivu is going to publish two documentaries about sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV).

Also on the topic of sexual violence, over at the Council for Foreign Relations, several experts on sexual violence in armed conflict debunk common misconceptions about rape perpetrated by armed groups. The analysis is accessible but substantive, and definitely worth the time to read.

The Acholi Times has published a story on the struggles of women who were abducted by the LRA, particularly with respect to the lack of land rights for children born in captivity. Ketty Anyeko, of the Justice and Reconciliation Project and Evelyn Amony of the Women’s Advocacy Network are quoted.

More on the M23 movement

After a month-long hiatus, Laura Seay of the popular blog Texas in Africa posts about how we need to challenge two assumptions about the M23 movement: Firstly, that the Kinyarwanda/Tutsi community in the Congo is unified, and secondly, that the mutiny was caused by rumours that Bosco Ntaganda was to be arrested and handed over to the ICC. Also, her must-read new piece at Warscapes, examining the effects of the new wave of violence on the citizens of Goma, the supposed political grievances behind the rebellion, and the history of resentment towards Congolese of Rwandan descent can also be found here.

Reflections on Uganda’s Amnesty Act

In light of the lack of female and Northern voices in the conversation regarding the expiration of Uganda’s 2000 Amnesty Act, the Gulu-based Justice and Reconciliation Project (JRP) has carried out a briefing resulting from focus-group consultations with local communities in northern Uganda (specifically in the West Nile, Lango, Acholi, and Teso sub-regions) about the Act. The briefing provided for mixed reviews of the act, and analyzes how different experiences with armed groups by communities shaped perspectives. The consultations conclude a general consensus among community members that despite their disagreements, they supported  renewing the act, under which over 26,000 people have demobilized.

In other Amnesty Act news, Mark Schenkel at Justice in Conflict, speculates as to why the Ugandan government took the very unexpected decision against renewal. There is also rumours of a new ‘transitional justice bill’ which the government hopes to present next year and that will give amnesty to lower-ranking rebels.

And finally – A changing of the guard at the ICC

In international criminal justice news, on Friday Gambian native and former Deputy Prosecutor of the ICC, Fatou Bensouda was officially sworn in as the Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, replacing the first ever prosecutor, Argentinean Luis Moreno-Ocampo. Ocampo’s nine year term resulted in only one conviction, that of Congolese warlord Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, and was characterized by controversy, particularly with respect to the cases of Sudanese President Omar Al-Bashir and Joseph Kony, among others. Bensouda is the first African and the first woman to hold the job. Bensouda has rejected accusations of the court having an ‘African bias’.Her candidacy for the position was unanimously supported by the African Union (AU), suggesting that the AU had more of a problem with Ocampo’s handling of African cases than with the court as an institution.The ICC currently has cases open in the DR Congo, Uganda, the Central African Republic, Kenya, Libya, Darfur, and Cote D’Ivoire.

 

 

The Lubanga Trial: A Historic Landmark for the International Criminal Court

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At the height of Konymania last month, the International Criminal Court (ICC), war  criminals and child soldiers become uncharacteristic talkings points. On March 14, the Netherlands-based court made headlines in its own right when it passed a landmark verdict – its very first – by convicting the Congolese warlord, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo. He was found guilty on three counts for the abduction of children in the eastern Ituri region in 2002-03, of forcing them to serve as soldiers, and of using them during the war in the Democratic Republic of Congo’s from 1998- 2003.

Lubanga served as the alleged head of the Union of Congolese Patriots (UCP) and its former military wing, the Patriotic Forces for the Liberation of Congo, during the Second Congolese war. The ICC decision was unanimous, and now Lubanga faces a maximum sentence of life imprisonment.

The Lubanga verdict is exemplary because it was the first one passed by the ICC since its establishment about a decade ago. Lubanga’s trial was due to be held in 2008, but was halted when it was discovered that the Office of Prosecution had failed to disclose evidence. It was restarted on January 26, 2009. Many critics have questioned why it took about six years to convict Lubanga after his arrest, bringing into light the weaknesses and
frailties of the International Criminal Court to administer timely justice.

Some have also questioned ICC’s equity when it comes to convictions of war criminals. All 28 people who have been charged by the ICC so far have been from Africa. The ICC is comprised of 120 countries currently party to the Rome Statute, with 33 African states. “By the numbers alone, assuming that conflicts occur with similar frequency in each inhabited continent, a national of a member state found to be in violation of the provisions of the statute is statistically more likely to be from Africa than from any other continent,” Nanjana Nyabola told Al Jazeera.

Neverthless, the ICC has only ever intervened, with the exception of Kenya (read more about that here), where the countries have asked for intervention or there has been a UN Security Council Resolution.

Another question that has been raised is how much impact the vilification of Lubanga will have on the communities who were affected by his crimes. Many members of the Ituri region, which was ravaged by Lubanga’s forces in 2003, are reported as feeling satisfied by the verdict, but not expressing their opinions publicly due to fear of potential supporters of Lubanga and the UPC.

The verdict has also come after a significant amount of time and the communities have already made progress towards reconciliation, despite ICC’s delay in court proceedings. There is also the issue of others who had been indicted alongside Lubanga, but are still at large in the DRC. A prime example is Bosco Ntganda, who was charged along with Lubanga, but still operates openly in the Eastern Congo region.

It is evident that ICC’s conviction of Lubanga is a historic milestone for international justice, but it also serves to highlight the court’s limitations and weaknesses when it comes to conducting international trials. The Lubanga trial serves as an important step in holding those who commit war crimes accountable by the international community.