05 Jun Is Drinking Sheep’s Blood An Alternative to the ICC?
05.06.07
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3 Comments
Uganda’s President recently suggested that rebel Lord’s Resistance Army leaders should opt for alternative Ugandan justice as a way of avoiding their arrest warrants by the International Criminal Court. Peace talks to end the ongoing civil war in northern Uganda have been affected by the ICC warrants for the four LRA leaders. According to Reuters, one alternative ritual would involve:
A murderer facing relatives of the victim and admitting the crime before both drink a bitter brew made from a tree root mixed with sheep’s blood.
Call me crazy, but I don’t think this would satisfy the ICC’s complementarity standard (the standard by which it would defer to Ugandan justice). But it would certainly make an interesting test case.
Do you have to drink the mixture for each victim? That could be a lot of sheep’s blood…
I do not know the role of tree root and sheep’s blood ritual in the history of that area of Uganda. I think a significant part of this is the admission of guilt before the relatives of the victim. I suspect there is more to the process here than Reuters reports. And part of the complementarity analysis might require review of the traditional dispute resolution methods. Why not? Lots of traditions that might provide a minimum standard of justice.
Best,
Ben
And part of the complementarity analysis might require review of the traditional dispute resolution methods. Why not? Lots of traditions that might provide a minimum standard of justice.
I think the issue is whether it truly represents a minimum standard of justice, as it were. Is apologizing for a crime without much punishment an acceptable alternative to a war crimes trial?
It smacks more of political convenience than justice.