Category Archives: Traditional Justice Mechanisms

The Human Rights Agenda and the Struggle Against Impunity

I recently reviewed an excellent new collection of essays Anti-Impunity and the Human Rights Agenda, edited by Karen Engle, Zinaida Miller and D.M. Davis (Cambridge, 2016). The book should be of interest to anyone working in the field of human rights … Continue reading

Posted in "Peace versus Justice" Debate, Academic Articles / Books, Amnesty, Brazil, Colombia, Economics of Conflict, FARC, Human Rights, International Criminal Court (ICC), International Criminal Justice, International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Justice, Latin America, Nuremberg, Peace Processes, Rwanda, Rwandan Genocide, South Africa, South America, Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

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

The Power and Politics of Transitional Justice

Kara Apland joins JiC for a guest-post on transitional justice. Kara recently completed a Fulbright scholarship studying Human Rights at the London School of Economics and Political Science. She has worked with the Liberian Truth and Reconciliation Commission in Ghana … Continue reading

Posted in Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice | 2 Comments

Beyond Criminal Justice: A Truth Commission in Libya

A fascinating debate about where to try the two surviving members of theTripoli Three – Saif al-Islam Gaddafi and Abdullah al-Senussi – is currently raging (see here, here and here). It’s an important debate, and, as readers will know, I … Continue reading

Posted in International Criminal Court (ICC), Libya, Libya and the ICC, The Tripoli Three (Tripoli3), Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Truth Commission | Leave a comment

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

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

Transitional Justice: “Paradigm Shift or Hot Air?”

I recently attended the IASFM conference on forced migration outside of Kampala, at a picturesque resort perched above Lake Victoria (yes, there is irony there!). At the conference, numerous scholars presented pieces on “transitional justice” or “TJ”. Disarmament Demobilization and Reintegration … Continue reading

Posted in International Criminal Court (ICC), Justice, Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation Commissions, Truth Commission | 2 Comments

Why Uganda is Our Best Chance to get to the Bottom of the Peace-Justice Debate

Most of the academic and political attention that the International Criminal Court (ICC) receives these days comes from Sudan and Libya. There is little doubt that the investigations of Sudan’s Omar al-Bashir and Libya’s Muammar Gaddafi have captured the imagination … Continue reading

Posted in Amnesty, Central African Republic (CAR), Crimes against humanity, Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo, International Criminal Court (ICC), Kenya, Libya, Lord's Resistance Army (LRA), Peace Negotiations, Traditional Justice Mechanisms, Uganda, War crimes | 13 Comments