[Full disclosure: I serve as the Prosecutor's Special Adviser on War Crimes.] In this post I want to provide an overview of the Rome Statute's principle of complementarity. The principle has been consistently misrepresented by politicians and journalists since word first got out that the Prosecutor, Karim Khan KC, intended to seek arrest warrants in the Palestine situation not only for...
[Miguel Lemos is an Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Coimbra] On 28 February 2024, Ukraine’s Supreme Court decided that only persons who play a “decisive role” in an aggressive state policy and those “directing” aggressive military operations are “capable of committing the crime of aggression” (all references to the judgment of the Supreme Court can be found...
[Raquel Vazquez Llorente is the Associate Director, Technology Threats and Opportunities, at WITNESS. Sarah Zarmsky is an Assistant Lecturer and PhD Candidate at the University of Essex Human Rights Centre. In 2023, she was a Visiting Scholar at the Human Rights Center at the University of California, Berkeley School of Law. Daragh Murray is a Senior Lecturer in International Human Rights...
[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...
[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...
[Lorraine Smith- van Lin is the Founder and Executive Director of Tallawah Justice for Women e.v, a non-profit association which works to connect, empower and amplify the voices of women leaders of survivor and grassroots organisations.] Introduction The reparations decision in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a former commander of the Ugandan rebel group, the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) on February 28,...
[Alejandra Vicente is the Head of Law at REDRESS Renata Politi is a Legal Advisor at REDRESS.] Introduction The recent reparation order issued by the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the case of Dominic Ongwen, a former Lord's Resistance Army (LRA) commander convicted of 61 counts of crimes against humanity and war crimes in northern Uganda, has brought victims and survivors a...
[Pamela Angwech is the Executive Director of Gulu Women Economic Justice and Globalisation in Gulu, Northern Uganda. She has received numerous awards for her work on human rights and gender justice for victims of the affected communities including the 2017 European Union Human Rights Defender Award.] As a grassroots activist and human rights defender in Northern Uganda, who has worked for...
[Joseph A. Manoba is a Ugandan lawyer and Co-Counsel with Francisco Cox in the representation of victims in the case of the Prosecutor Versus Dominic Ongwen.] The Ongwen case is in many respects a significant milestone for justice and accountability for the victims of the atrocities in northern Uganda. Dominic Ongwen is the only one of five commanders of the Lord’s...
This symposium is organised by Tallawah Justice for Women e.v, a non-profit association which works to connect, empower and amplify the voices of women leaders of survivor and grassroots organisations. Tallawah works in partnership with the University of Nottingham School of Law, Gulu Women Economic Development and Globalisation (GWED-G) and other Ugandan grassroots organisations to amplify the voices of Ugandan...
[Douglas Guilfoyle is Professor of International and Security Law at UNSW Canberra] Introduction Israel’s strike on the World Central Kitchen (WCK) convoy on 1 April was almost certainly a war crime. Indeed, I struggle to see how any other conclusion is possible. This is true even accepting the ‘misidentification’ version of events the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) has subsequently offered. At the outset...
[Gabriella Citroni is an Adjunct Professor of International Human Rights Law at the University of Milano-Bicocca and Senior Legal Advisor at TRIAL International. Pamela Capizzi is Head of Pool of Legal Expertise at TRIAL International. Adrijana Hanušić Bećirović is a Senior Legal Advisor (for the Bosnia and Herzegovina Program) at TRIAL International.] Time Matters: Statutory Limitations and Crimes against Humanity Experience shows that, when...