International Criminal Court

In this article, I discussed four important challenges to the involvement of UN peace operations in international criminal justice: its effects on host state relations, peace and justice dilemmas, its effects on impartiality, and the problems with capacity and training.

The relationship between peace and justice is a convoluted one. History reveals that justice has mostly been subordinate to the cravings for peace. In the wake of international armed conflicts or civil wars, war criminals have usually benefitted from amnesties or have simply been left untouched. While the opinion ‘to let bygones be bygones’ may certainly not be shared by everyone, war fatigue, lack of political power and the urge to turn over a new leaf are factors that contribute to the policy of burying the past.

The firm conclusion by the COI that North Korea has been committing crimes against humanity needed further action. There was skepticism on the follow up. What were the chances that the UN Security Council would pick up on conclusions and recommendations and refer the case to be properly investigated by the International Criminal Court (ICC)?

The IBA’s Human Rights Institute commenced the IBA International Criminal Court (ICC) Programme in 2005. Its office is located in The Hague Academy Building within the Peace Palace complex, in The Hague – the world’s leading hub of international law and justice.

The old-fashioned international humanitarian aid relief has been criticised for years as doing too little and too late while no real alternative has been articulated to fill in the enormous need for food, medicines and know-how offered by international and multi-lateral programs. This UN FORUM issue reflects on some old-standing and some emerging problems in Africa through the new mechanisms, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) to deal with them.

To date, the Office of the Prosecutor has initiated investigations that have exclusively focused on the African region. These developments have led to rigorous discussion and debate on the legitimacy of the Court’s mode of operation in the African context, particularly, whether the ICC as an institution is capable of meeting the notions of justice as desired by Africans.