Africa

[Fatuma Abiya is a child born in captivity following the abduction of her mother by the Lord’s Resistance Army. Now a young adult, Fatuma is a Human Rights activist, a peace practitioner and law graduate who completed law school in 2023. She is a passionate advocate concerning issues impacting women, youth and children born of war.] Background I was born in captivity to...

[Florence Shako is an advocate and academic researching business and human rights and access to justice issues. She is the Senior Partner of Mitullah, Shako and Associates Advocates as well as the Executive Director of the Center for Education Policy and Climate Justice based in Nairobi, Kenya.] The landmark judgment in Ligue Ivoirienne Des Droits De L’homme and Others v. Republic of Côte...

In a recent article in International Law Studies, I examined two competing positions concerning how sovereignty functions in cyberspace. The first position, "pure" sovereignty, holds that any low-intensity cyber operation that involves non-consensually penetrating a computer system located on another State’s territory violates the targeted State’s sovereignty. By contrast, the second position, "relative" sovereignty, rejects the idea that the mere...

[Chuka Arinze-Onyia is a practicing criminal defense lawyer with an avid interest in international justice issues. He authored this article during a recent stint as an International Justice in Africa Fellow with Amnesty International.] On 16 December 2022, the ICC Prosecutor announced that his office had concluded the investigation phase of its work in Central African Republic (CAR) and would not pursue new...

[Stephen Lamony is an international lawyer] This essay benefited from comments by the Coordinator of the African States Parties to the ICC in New York, Mr Marvin Ikondere. Introduction In July 2010, International Criminal Court (ICC) President Judge Sang-Hyun Song and African Union (AU) Commission Chairperson Jean Ping met and agreed to establish a Liaison Office to promote dialogue, information exchange, and mutual...

[Dr Cristiano d’Orsi is a Lecturer and Senior Research Fellow at the South African Research Chair in International Law (SARCIL), Faculty of Law, University of Johannesburg. He holds a Ph.D. in International Law from the Graduate Institute of International and Development Studies in Geneva. His research interests focus mainly on the development of Public International Law in Africa.] In its most basic...

[Ruwadzano Patience Makumbe is a human rights lawyer. Edward Kahuthia Murimi is a Kenyan lawyer. They are both currently undertaking PhD research as part of the ‘DISSECT: Evidence in International Human Rights Adjudication’ Project (funded by ERC) at the Human Rights Centre, Ghent University (Belgium).] Introduction  In November 2020, a conflict broke out in the Tigray region of Ethiopia pitting the Ethiopian...

[Dr Jonathan Kolieb is Senior Lecturer and Peace and Conflict Theme Lead, Business and Human Rights Centre, at RMIT University in Australia. Ann Letch is a PhD Candidate at RMIT University, Australia.] Another chapter in the pursuit of accountability for business people for committing heinous human rights abuses is (finally) unfolding in The Hague, Netherlands over the coming weeks. After 26...

[Stephen A. Lamony is an International Lawyer writing from Gulu City, northern Uganda.] Introduction On May 6, 2021, Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (ICC) sentenced Dominic Ongwen to 25 years of imprisonment for murder, rape, and sexual enslavement. On the same day, the Chamber issued an order for submissions on reparations stating that the "reparations phase of the proceedings should...

[Adrienne Ringin holds a Bachelor of Arts (International Politics) and Juris Doctor from the University of Melbourne and currently works as a research assistant to Dr. Rosemary Grey at the University of Sydney with a focus on sexual and gender-based crimes at the International Criminal Court.] September 26 2022 saw the opening of the trial in the case of The Prosecutor...