Author Archives: Mark Kersten

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About Mark Kersten

Mark Kersten is an Assistant Professor in the Criminology and Criminal Justice Department at the University of the Fraser Valley in British Columbia, Canada, and a Senior Consultant at the Wayamo Foundation in Berlin, Germany. Mark is the founder of the blog Justice in Conflict and author of the book, published by Oxford University Press, by the same name. He holds an MSc and PhD in International Relations from the London School of Economics and a BA (Hons) from the University of Guelph. Mark has previously been a Research Associate at the Refugee Law Project in Uganda, and as researcher at Justice Africa and Lawyers for Justice in Libya in London. He has taught courses on genocide studies, the politics of international law, transitional justice, diplomacy, and conflict and peace studies at the London School of Economics, SOAS, and University of Toronto. Mark’s research has appeared in numerous academic fora as well as in media publications such as The Globe and Mail, Al Jazeera, BBC, Foreign Policy, the CBC, Toronto Star, and The Washington Post. He has a passion for gardening, reading, hockey (on ice), date nights, late nights, Lego, and creating time for loved ones.

Canada’s Prime Minister: A Danger to Peace?

There was no need to be particularly impressed or to defend the comments of the newly appointed leader of the Liberal Party of Canada, Justin Trudeau, in the wake of the Boston Marathon bombings. Fresh off his victory in the … Continue reading

Posted in Canada | Tagged , | 1 Comment

CSI: The Hague or the ICC just got Jack Bauer-ed

We knew this day was coming. We didn’t know how or exactly when but we knew that someone would eventually make a TV show out of the International Criminal Court. There’s just too much drama, too much character, too much … Continue reading

Posted in Film, Humour, International Criminal Court (ICC) | 3 Comments

Transitional Justice as Politics

It is widely accepted that transitional justice can and should be separated from politics. How societies and states achieve justice in the wake of mass atrocities, so it goes, is a pursuit that must be divorced from political calculations. Indeed, … Continue reading

Posted in Transitional Justice | 2 Comments

ICC Prosecutor Enters the ‘Peace versus Justice’ Sweepstakes

Fatou Bensouda, Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), recently issued a ‘state of the union’ address from the ICC on the “peace versus justice” debate. The intervention, penned as a New York Times op-ed entitled ‘International Justice and Diplomacy’ introduced Bensouda’s voice … Continue reading

Posted in Conflict Resolution, Peace Negotiations, Peace Processes | Tagged , | 2 Comments

International Justice gets a dose of HARDtalk

Last week, the current President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Theodor Meron, appeared on BBC’s HARDtalk. Meron, a luminary in the world of international criminal justice who has published widely and is universally respected for his … Continue reading

Posted in ICTY, International Law, Justice | Tagged | Leave a comment

Update: Ntaganda Headed to The Hague

In the end, the fears that Rwanda might “inhibit” the transfer of notorious rebel leader Bosco Ntaganda from the US Embassy in Kigali to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague did not materialize. “The Terminator” is on his … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Republic of Congo, International Criminal Court (ICC), Rwanda, United States | Tagged , | 2 Comments

Barrier to Justice: Could Rwanda Prevent Ntaganda from Reaching The Hague?

Troubling signs have emerged that the transfer of Bosco Ntaganda to the International Criminal Court (ICC) may be “inhibited” by the Rwandan government. On Monday, Ntaganda stunned the world when he surrendered himself to the ICC via the US Embassy … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Republic of Congo, International Criminal Court (ICC), Rwanda | Tagged | 5 Comments

When an Alleged War Criminal Walks into a US Embassy and says: ‘Take me to the ICC’

An ICC indictee walks into an American Embassy in broad daylight and asks to be transferred to The Hague. This could be the beginning of a good joke. But it isn’t. It is exactly what happened in Rwanda yesterday. The … Continue reading

Posted in Democratic Republic of Congo, ICC Prosecutor, International Criminal Court (ICC), Rwanda, United States | Tagged , | 16 Comments

Canada Threatens to Undermine the ICC?

Too often in the past few years, when the Canadian government has come up in human rights related news, it has been for all the wrong reasons. This was the case once again when, last week, Canadian Foreign Minister John … Continue reading

Posted in Canada, International Criminal Court (ICC), Palestine, Palestine and the ICC | 6 Comments

Praise for Fatou Bensouda, in the Wake of Kenyatta and Muthaura

As readers are surely aware, it hasn’t been a good week for the International Criminal Court (ICC). First, ICC indictee Uhuru Kenyatta won the Kenyan Presidential election while his running-mate and fellow indictee, William Ruto, is set to become Kenya’s next Vice … Continue reading

Posted in Fatou Bensouda, International Criminal Court (ICC), Kenya | Tagged , , | 5 Comments