The International Criminal Court and conflict transformation in Uganda: Views from the field (original) (raw)
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The International Criminal Court and the transformation of post-war justice in Northern Uganda
Sentio Journal, 2021
This article looks at the interface between the International Criminal Court and transitional justice processes in Northern Uganda. It takes a doctrinal approach, drawing on qualitative work in the fields of international criminal law, human rights, and political science. The Ugandan situation demonstrates that top-down transitional justice has both positive and negative dimensions. This article argues that, while the International Criminal Court has helped transform judicial aspects, it has also contributed towards the decline of traditional justice mechanisms. Overall, the article concludes that there is still a compelling case to be made for the involvement of international criminal tribunals in postwar contexts, but that it needs to be done in such a way that promotes good domestic processes and incorporates bottom-up perspectives.
The continued prevalence of deadly conflicts resulting in atrocities and crimes against humanity bring to sharp contrast the competing demands of justice and the interests of conflict resolution and peace building. While contemporary transitional justice deals with questions of impunity in post conflict situations, this book examines the suitability of international justice for conflict resolution. This critique is situated in the historical development and rise to prominence of international humanitarian law and human rights conventions. It critiques the consequences of pursuing justice in on going conflicts and scrutinizes the competing interests of the punitive and retributive approach to contemporary international justice leading to prosecution, against a conflict resolution approach that favours political considerations for peace and security that may require engagement with perpetrators of war crimes in order to secure peace. The balance between peace and justice is the more difficult to strike in the context of an on going conflict such as Northern Uganda's where the pursuit of justice by the ICC risks exacerbating the conflict and diminishing the prospects for peace.
Stability: International Journal of Security & Development, 2013
"This practice note describes and critiques the initial years of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) involvement in Uganda from the perspective of local civil society actors. It argues that the substance and process of the ICC’s intervention fell chronically short of generating justice for those who had lived with the conflict for over two decades, and therefore created a disconnect between the priorities of those on the ground, and the priorities of the Court and its international minders. In order to unravel some of the dynamics that underpinned this disconnect, the paper asserts that the pivotal relationship between citizen and state provides a lens through which to assess any approach to generating justice in Uganda. It concludes that those promoting international justice need to be more cognisant of the fact that international justice mechanisms are obsolete unless they can move from theory to practice and make a genuine difference in people’s lives. In this regard, a better understanding and awareness of the political and social context in which they are operating, as well as greater self-critique and honesty, is critical."
The conflict in northern Uganda presents a unique study in comparing international, domestic and traditional responses to justice and stability amid prolonged conflict. This article explains the colonial and political background of the country and the emergence of the parties to the fighting, and describes the violations of interna- tional humanitarian and human rights law committed by all armed groups. It exam- ines the various responses to these violations, focusing on Uganda’s Amnesty Act, International Criminal Court indictments, the Juba peace talks, and traditional con- flict resolution and reconciliation ceremonies, and explores how these mechanisms for negotiating peace and instilling justice are facilitating or interfering with each other. Overall, it attempts to discover how this interplay between international ideal- ism, regional and national politics, cultural influences and logistical feasibility not only presents important lessons concerning the conflict in Uganda, but also reflects and informs false dichotomies in international criminal law and transitional justice.
Uganda's Civil War and the Politics of ICC Intervention
Ethics & International Affairs,, 2007
The International Criminal Court's intervention into the ongoing civil war in northern Uganda evoked a chorus of confident predictions as to its capacity to bring peace and justice to the war-torn region. However, this optimism is unwarranted. The article analyzes the consequences for peace and justice of the ICC's intervention, dividing them into two categories: first, those resulting from the political instrumentalization of the ICC by the Ugandan government; second, those resulting from the discourse and practice of the ICC as an institution of global law enforcement.
Multilayered Justice in Northern Uganda: ICC Intervention and Local Procedures of Accountability
In an effort to redress the effects of the civil war in Northern Uganda, local, state and international officials have begun to study the feasibility of re-adapting the procedures of local justice, including mato oput, a local procedure practiced by the Acholi tribe. This article examines this evolving multilayered project of justice in Northern Uganda. It addresses two features of this model: (1) the central features of local justice, in particular mato oput, and (2) the complementary relationship between mato oput, the state, and the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) victims’ unit and the victims’ trust fund. It argues that closer and more effective ties between the ICC and local procedures of justice can be developed. Not only does this relationship constitute an evolving framework for addressing the political realities of ICC intervention, but it also raises many important practical implications for reaching out to the local population.
Justice in conflict: the ICC in Libya and Northern Uganda
2014
The thesis examines the effects of interventions by the International Criminal Court (ICC) on peace, justice and conflict processes in northern Uganda and Libya. The 'peace versus justice' debate, wherein it is argued that the ICC has either positive or negative effects on 'peace’, has spawned in response to the Court's interventions into active and ongoing conflicts. The thesis is a response to and engagement with this debate. Despite often seeming persuasive, claims within the 'peace versus justice' debate have failed to set out a coherent research agenda on how to study the effects of the ICC's interventions on 'peace'. Drawing on theoretical and analytical insights from the fields of conflict and peace studies, conflict resolution and negotiation theory, the thesis develops a novel and nuanced analytical framework to study the Court's effects on peace, justice and conflict processes. This framework is applied to two specific cases: the ICC...