Category Archives: Amnesty

The Path Towards Prosecution: An End to Amnesty in Northern Uganda

Mark Schenkel joins us for this insightful and thought-provoking guest-post on the expiry of Uganda’s Amnesty Act and its implications for transitional justice in northern Uganda. Mark is a Dutch journalist based in Kampala, Uganda. He covers developments in East … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Kwoyelo Trial, Transitional Justice, Uganda | Tagged , | 3 Comments

Impunity Rules: Libya Passes Controversial Amnesty Law

While haggling between the ICC and Libya’s National Transitional Council (NTC) over the fate of Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi continues, Libya quietly, but controversially, passed a blanket amnesty for pro-Revolution rebels. According to Lawyers for Justice in Libya … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, International Criminal Court (ICC), Libya, Libya and the ICC | 15 Comments

Where to With Transitional Justice in Uganda? The Situation After the Extension of the Amnesty Act

Regular readers of this blog are aware that Uganda has both an amnesty law in force since 2000 as well as an International Crimes Division (ICD) at the High Court which is able to try crimes, including war crimes, crimes … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Kwoyelo Trial, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Uganda | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

A Maverick Judge Goes on Trial: Spain’s Dark Chapter

The famous, for some notorious and, for most, controversial, Spanish judge Baltasar Garzón is now on trial in Madrid. Garzón, most famous for issuing an arrest warrant for former Chilean dictator, Augusto Pinochet in 1999, faces three individual trials. The … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Chile, Crimes against humanity, Spain, Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Universal Jurisdiction | 4 Comments

ICC Complementarity, Positive Peace and Comprehensive Approaches in Transitional Justice

Even though much of the literature on Transitional Justice still focuses on unhelpful dichotomies like peace versus justice or trials versus amnesties the concepts that are being applied to tackle the legacies of violent conflicts in practice are increasingly comprehensive. … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Complementarity, International Criminal Court (ICC), Justice, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Uganda | 4 Comments

South Asia’s First War Crimes Criminal Tribunal

JiC is happy to welcome Dawood Ahmed as a guest-poster. Dawood is a Solicitor (non-practicing) and a research associate at the Center on Law and Globalization. In his first post at JiC, Dawood introduces some of the key challenges facing … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Asia, Bangladesh, Human Rights, Justice, War crimes | 2 Comments

The Fallacy of Sequencing Peace and Justice

A few weeks ago I spoke with a senior transitional justice researcher and aspiring politician from northern Uganda about the trials (if you excuse the pun) and tribulations of achieving peace and justice in the region. He described sentiments familiar … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Argentina, Human Rights, Justice, Latin America, Peace Negotiations, South America, Transitional Justice, Uganda | 6 Comments

Kwoyelo Granted Amnesty and Set Free But Questions Remain

As many readers will know, both Patrick and I have been writing about the trial of Thomas Kwoyelo in recent weeks (see here, here and here). Earlier this year, Kwoyelo became the first rebel commander of the Lord’s Resistance Army … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Human Rights, Justice, Kwoyelo Trial, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Uganda | 4 Comments

Squashing the Amnesty Law in Uganda? Possible Implications of the Kwoyelo Trial

Regular readers of this blog will be aware of the Kwoyelo Trial at the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the Ugandan High Court. Thomas Kwoyelo was a high ranking LRA Commander who was arrested in the DRC in 2009 and … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Kwoyelo Trial, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Transitional Justice, Uganda | 8 Comments

Gaddafi to Burkina Faso? Probably Not: Lessons from Charles Taylor

In the wake of pro-Gaddafi convoys speeding through the Sahara, apparently with cash and gold aboard, there has been a lot of confusion and concern regarding where Colonel Gaddafi is and whether he will seek asylum in Burkina Faso, via … Continue reading

Posted in African Union (AU), Amnesty, Burkina Faso, Exile, International Criminal Court (ICC), Liberia, Libya, Libya and the ICC, Sierra Leone, Special Court for SIerra Leone (SCSL), The Tripoli Three (Tripoli3) | 4 Comments