The global approach to serious crimes is shifting to domestic trials – here’s what I found in three African countries
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Monday, September 25, 2023
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, International, The Hague, Extraordinary court, History, Congolese, ICC, War, Democratic republic, Non-governmental organization, International criminal law, Genocide, Crime, International Criminal Court, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Drug, Pharmaceutical industry, Practice of law, DRC, Domestic
But prioritising domestic accountability for the most serious crimes has both advantages and disadvantages.
Key Points:
- But prioritising domestic accountability for the most serious crimes has both advantages and disadvantages.
- In a recently published book, International Criminal Tribunals and Domestic Accountability: In The Court’s Shadow, I analyse the complex relationship between international and domestic accountability initiatives.
- I also look at how an ongoing shift from international to domestic trials has impacted the global fight against impunity.
Domestic justice
- Read more:
Putin and the ICC: history shows just how hard it is to bring a head of state to justiceThis is one of the reasons that domestic justice is now celebrated as quicker, cheaper and more victim-friendly.
- Just two decades after the International Criminal Court was created, many stakeholders now argue that “the future of international criminal justice is domestic”.
- To better understand the relationship between international and domestic trials, I studied three African cases.
- But based on 30 years of international criminal justice interventions on the African continent, I identified four trends.
Trends shaping international interventions
- Today, the International Criminal Court handles between one and four international cases per country.
- Second, with international criminal tribunals facing criticism in the 1990s and 2000s, the international community shifted attention to state-level accountability processes.
- As the number of international trials decreased, domestic prosecutions increased in some countries.
- What Kenyan choices tell us about international justice
Third, there’s still little evidence that domestic justice performs better than international criminal tribunals.
- But the Congolese army has used international support to consolidate its power at the expense of the civilian justice sector.
Way forward
- First, international criminal tribunals sometimes unintentionally cast an “authoritarian shadow” over domestic justice efforts.
- Second, too much emphasis on national trials may promote illiberal tendencies in some contexts.
- I encourage a more critical look at how international and domestic justice relate to one another.