Africa

[Kudakwashe Zvikomborero Mapako is a Research Officer at the African Center for Science and International Security (AFRICSIS) in the Arms Control and Nonproliferation program.] Introduction  Although nuclear weapons have only been used in warfare twice, approximately 13,080 are said to remain in our world today, and over 2,000 nuclear tests have been conducted to date. Disarmament is the best defense against such...

[Captain Peter S. Konchak is a Judge Advocate in the United States Army who is currently assigned to the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate for III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos, and whose academic work is focused on matters of national security law and policy.] [The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do...

[Captain Peter S. Konchak is a Judge Advocate in the United States Army who is currently assigned to the Office of the Staff Judge Advocate for III Armored Corps and Fort Cavazos, and whose academic work is focused on matters of national security law and policy.] [The views expressed in this article are those of the author and do not represent...

[Beth S. Lyons is an experienced criminal defence attorney who has represented defendants before the ICTR and ICC. She is currently one of the counsel representing Dominic Ongwen.] Introduction Let me say from the start that I believe that victims of crimes have a right to redress and to reparations which are proportionate to the harms caused by these crimes.  This right...

[Margaret Ajok is currently the Transitional Justice Advisor at the Governance and Security Programme Secretariat (formerly JLOS), at the Ministry of Justice and Constitutional Affairs, Uganda. She is a lawyer and advocate of the Courts of Judicature of Uganda and is also a task force member for the African Union Women for Transitional Justice Network representing Africa.] Introduction The over two decades...

[Sylvia Acan is a survivor; abducted at 13 years, Sylvia lived in captivity for almost 8 years. Following her repatriation, Sylvia returned to school and completed tertiary level education. In 2011, she founded Golden Women Vision Uganda to provide support to women and children victims of the LRA war, including many victims of Dominic Ongwen.] I am a survivor of the atrocities...

[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...