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Just Justice?  New Paper Series Reflects on International Justice in Africa


(January 10, 2012) IRRI today launched a discussion paper series entitled Just Justice? Civil society, international justice and the search for accountability in Africa. The series will reflect local perspectives on international justice as it is being experienced in Africa. It aims to deepen the debate around a series of key questions and controversies facing the realisation of international justice, anchored in reflections from the ground, including local, national, regional and continental civil society.

The paper series seeks to contribute to addressing this lacuna by encouraging honest, open and thoughtful debates about the impact of international justice on the ground on the continent. The series opens with a reflection on the impact of the ICC’s intervention in Uganda and the impact that this had on civil society and the political impact in Uganda more broadly. Titled A Poisoned Chalice? Local civil society and the International Criminal Court’s engagement in Uganda, the paper reflects on the ICC’s engagement in Uganda through the lens of the author’s experience working with one of the largest national civil society organisations in Uganda at the time when the investigations was first announced and the first arrest warrants were issued.

Read Just Justice: Civil society, international justice and the search for accountability in Africa the series introduction.

Read A Poisoned Chalice? Local civil society and the International Criminal Court’s engagement in Uganda.

 

IRRI Primer on Sexual and Gender Based Violence and the Great Lakes Conference

(December 16, 2011) The International Refugee Rights Initiative today launched a primer “Using the Great Lakes Conference to Combat Sexual Violence: A Primer.” The launch coincides with the closure of the 4th Summit of Heads of State and Government of the International Conference on the Great Lakes Region (ICGLR) in Kampala on the theme “United to Prevent, End Impunity and Provide Support to the Victims of SGBV in the Great Lakes Region.”

The primer offers an overview of the content of various ICGLR instruments related to sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV). It also gives a description of the institutional architecture which may be engaged in order to give effect to the commitments articulated in the instruments. An annex reproduces portions of the key ICGLR texts which are most relevant to SGBV. The primer is intended to serve as a resource for civil society organisations and others who may wish to engage with the ICGLR as part of their efforts to address SGBV in the region.    

The primer is currently available only in English, but will be available in French translation shortly.

Read the full primer here.


 

Civil Society, Social Movements and Transitional Justice

November 2011 (5:3)

IRRI's Senior Researcher, together with Moses Chrispus Okello has recently guest edited a special issue of the International Journal for Transitional Justice focusing on Civil Society, Social Movements and Transitional Justice.

In their editorial note, Hovil and Okello frame the questions:

"Are civil society actors genuinely inclusive, exerting a democratizing effect, or are they meddlers, distorting what is taking place and promoting a biased agenda? How do they ensure citizen inclusion? Who is setting the agenda? Are they offering counsel, or are they simply imposing external models onto complex cultural and political environments that are poorly understood? And from where do they derive their legitimacy? Given that transitional justice civil society activity has proliferated and remains relatively unmonitored, it is vital that we ask these questions."

Read the full editorial note.

Browse the full table of contents.


Resisting Repatriation: Burundian Refugees Struggling to Stay in Tanzania

(4 October 2011) On 25 May 2011, a Tripartite Commission comprised of the governments of Tanzania and Burundi and the UNHCR met to discuss the future of approximately 38,000 refugees in Mtabila camp in Tanzania. The talks ended with a decision to close the camp on 31 December 2011. The government of Tanzania has announced that they expect a renewed repatriation drive to start imminently and that they are prepared to revoke the refugee status of the group “if need be.”

Although refugees in Mtabila camp have been resisting return for more than two years, weathering numerous “deadlines” for repatriation and the steady withdrawal of services, there is growing fear among refugees that the current deadline of 31 December 2011 is going to lead to forcible repatriation.

Read the full report.

Read the feature in Pambazuka news here.

Lisez en francais.