Darfur rebel Abu Garda will not face ICC charges

BBC article

Rebel leader Bahar Idriss Abu Garda, who gave himself up last year, had been accused of planning the killing of 12 African Union peacekeepers in 2007.

But International Criminal Court (ICC) judges ruled that there was not enough evidence to support a trial.

Last week, the ICC said charges of genocide against Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir could be resubmitted.

Mr Bashir is already wanted for war crimes….

Rwanda genocide-row politician attacked

BBC article

A Rwandan politician who stirred up controversy with comments on the genocide recently has been attacked by a group of men at a government office…

Guinean junta reject UN report on massacre

Daily Nation article

Officials of the military junta regime in Guinea have issued a unilateral report in which they exonerate their leader from crimes against humanity in last year’s September massacre.

According to the report, only about 55 pro-democracy protesters were killed during the incident as opposed to 157 as stated by a United Nations report.

The military junta report placed total blame on a renegade bodyguard, Lt Boubacar Diakité, who is still on the run following a failed assignation attempt on the country’s leader on December 3 last year.

The report which was made public on Wednesday contradicts the one issued by the UN team which accused the country’s leader Captain Moussa Dadis Camara “crimes against humanity”…

The ICC’s blunder on Sudan

Guardian article

Yesterday, the international criminal court decided that Sudan’s president, Omar al-Bashir, may be charged with genocide. Bashir has a knack for being in places that embarrass the court when such rulings are made. Last March, when a warrant for his arrest for war crimes and crimes against humanity was issued, he was in front of TV cameras in north Darfur. Yesterday, he was in Qatar meeting the emir for talks on the Darfur peace process – making a mockery of the arrest warrant as he travels freely and enjoys the support of his Arab and African brethren…

African Union urges United Nations to halt al-Bashir case

CNN article

The African Union has called on the United Nations Security Council to delay war crimes proceedings against Sudan’s president, saying a decision allowing genocide charges harms peace efforts.

“The African Union has always emphasized its commitment to justice and its total rejection of impunity,” it said in a statement Thursday. “At the same time, the AU reiterates that the search for justice should be pursued in a manner not detrimental to the search for peace. The latest decision by the ICC (International Criminal Court) runs in the opposite direction.”…

Prepared Remarks: Luis Moreno-Ocampo, Prosecutor of the ICC

Council on Foreign Relations document

Timor Groups Write UN Security Council on Justice with International Support

OpEd News article

fter 10 years in a climate of independence, we Timorese people continue to endure long suffering related to the cases of serious crimes that were committed during the Indonesian military occupation of our country. This suffering will not end until there is an effective judicial process to try the perpetrators of human rights violations that resulted in the deaths of 100,000-180,000 Timorese during the Indonesian occupation from 7 December 1975 until October 1999…

Chad’s Habre Said to Know of Prison Deaths

VOA News article

A new study shows that former Chadian President Hissene Habre knew about hundreds of deaths in prisons operated by his political police.  Mr. Habre has been under house arrest in Senegal since 2000.  He fled to Senegal after being deposed in 1990 and has since been accused of thousands of political killings and cases of torture during his eight years in power…

Darfur crimes: Hague reverses Bashir genocide ruling

BBC article

International Criminal Court judges have reversed a ruling that there is insufficient proof to charge Sudan’s president with genocide in Darfur…

Guinea commission absolves junta of blame for massacre

AFP article

The president of a commission set up by Guinea’s junta to probe a massacre of opposition supporters in Conakry last year on Tuesday absolved junta chief Captain Moussa Dadis Camara of any blame…

Death threats on Kenya post-poll violence witnesses

AFP article

Witnesses of the post-election violence that broke out in Kenya two years ago have been receiving death threats, as the International Criminal Court continues its push to prosecute the perpetrators…

ICC ‘must probe Nigeria religious violence in Jos’

BBC article

A Nigerian rights group has urged the International Criminal Court (ICC) to investigate violence between Muslims and Christians in the city of Jos.

International Criminal Court proposes powers to try politicians who wage ‘illegal wars’

Telegraph article

At a special “review conference” in Kampala, Uganda, the nations which have signed up to the court, including Britain, will consider a proposal to let the court try the “crime of aggression” – the offence allegedly committed by Tony Blair.

If the proposal, backed by more than 70 countries, passes, national leaders alleged to have launched “illegal” wars could be seized, transported to the Hague, tried and imprisoned…

Carr Center: A Conversation with Luis Moreno Ocampo

Forthcoming book publications

Transitional Justice: Global Mechanisms and Local Realities after Genocide and Mass Violence

Alexander Hinton (editor). Rutgers University Press, July 2010

Contributors: Alexander Laban Hinton; Andrew Woolford; Antonius C.G.M. Robben; Conerly Casey; Elizabeth F. Drexler; Jennie E. Burnett; Leslie Dwyer; Mo Bleeker; Nigel Eltringham; Robert K. Hitchcock and Wayne A. Babchuk; Roger Duthir; Sarah Wagner; Victoria Sanford and Martha Lincoln.

The Gacaca Courts, Post-Genocide Justice and Reconciliation in Rwanda

Phil Clark. Cambridge University Press, October 2010

Rwanda becomes African model state

Radio Netherlands story

Almost all of those involved in the Rwandan genocide have now stood trial at the Gacaca community justice courts. Nearly 800,000 people have been convicted. A number of them are serving their sentences in Mpanga prison, which was partly funded by the Netherlands.

Many people outside of Rwanda still base their view of the country on the terrible massacres and atrocities which took place during the genocide of 1994. But that image is now outdated. Rwanda is rapidly developing into a model state for Africa.

The ethnic tensions between Hutus and Tutsis appear to be under control. A law has been passed which forbids making reference to different population groups. Everyone in the country is Rwandan and no more distinctions are made along ethnic lines.

Rwanda has not only raised its economic and political profile but it is also making significant strides on the environment, with a strong focus on renewable energy and combating pollution. Increasing numbers of people are hooked up to eco-friendly power. And once a month, everyone in Rwanda helps keep the streets and doorsteps clean.

Rwanda is by far the least polluted country in Africa. There is even a ban on plastic bags, which have been entirely replaced by paper. In many ways, Rwanda can serve as an example, not only to other African countries but also to the wealthy countries of the West…

UN Secretary General Urges African Leaders to Support ICC

African Press Agency article

The United Nations Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon on Sunday urged African member states to support the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which in March 2009 issued an arrest warrant against the president of Sudan, Omar Hassan al Bashir who is also attending the African Union (AU) Summit in Addis Ababa.

Ban told the gathering of African leaders to commit themselves to strengthening the ICC, “the foundation stone of our systems of international criminal Justice”.

He urged the African leaders to attend the first review conference of the ICC, which will be held in March 2010 in Uganda, Kampala.

“I urge you to join me there,” said Ban Ki-moon, “Our challenges are linked ; our solutions must be as well”.

It is to be recalled that the African Union Commission took a position following the ICC arrest warrant against Al Bashir in which the commission strongly opposed it.

Instead, the commission asked the UN to defer the arrest warrant for 12 months saying “to give time for peace.”…

Fujimori Faces Justice

Foreign Policy In Focus article

On January 3, 2010, the Peruvian Supreme Court handed down its decision to uphold the April 2009 conviction of former Peruvian president Alberto Fujimori (1990-2000) for four cases of human rights violations. “My son must be very content, as I am, with the judges’ ratification [of the verdict],” said a visibly moved Raida Cóndor in a press conference the morning the ruling was made public. Raida’s son, Armando Amaro Cóndor, was one of the nine students that the Colina Group death-squad kidnapped from their dorm rooms at the Cantuta University and brutally killed in July 1992. “God does exist, and it is He who has given us the strength to persist in this struggle.” Gisela Ortiz, whose brother Luis Enrique was also one of the Cantuta victims, reminded her compatriots just how long a struggle it has been: The confirmation of the verdict represents the culmination of nearly two decades of searching for truth and justice by the family members of the victims…

Court to decide on genocide charge for Sudan’s Bashir

Reuters article

The International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague said on Thursday it would decide on February 3 whether Sudanese President Omar Hassan al-Bashir should be charged with genocide.

The ICC issued an arrest warrant for Bashir in March 2009 for war crimes in Darfur, but said there were insufficient grounds to issue a warrant for genocide…

Call for submissions: online debate on international justice in Africa

Oxford Transitional Justice Research (OTJR), in partnership with the International Center for Transitional Justice – Africa and the Darfur Consortium, is organising an online debate on International Justice in Africa. The debate will be hosted on African Arguments by the Royal African Society and the Social Sciences Research Council.

The purpose of the debate is to stimulate an incisive discussion about the possibilities and challenges of the institutions of international justice in Africa, with a focus on the International Criminal Court. This debate is critical ahead of the Review Conference of the Rome Statute, scheduled for late May and early June 2010.

The editorial team will consider essays or opinion editorials of approximately 800 to 1500 words from scholars, practitioners and policymakers on different aspects of this topic – in the vein of OTJR’s current online essays <http://www.csls.ox.ac.uk/otjr.php?show=workingpapers>.
We would like to invite you to submit an essay for the launch of the debate in March 2010. More essays will be published – with high visibility – thereafter on a rolling basis. Because of the nature of the editorial process, we kindly ask that you send your contribution by 15 February 2010.
To submit an essay, please email lydiah-kemunto.bosire@politics.ox.ac.uk.