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African mistrust of "Northern Justice"

19/12/2008 By Vidal Martín

Stan Honda/AFP/Getty Images

Last July, a number of events laid bare the difficulties that international justice has in progressing; one of the main problems is the expansion of jurisdiction beyond state borders in cases of genocide or massive violations of human rights.

In the face of lawsuits and summons by Spanish and French judges, Rwandan President Paul Kagame managed to secure broad support from the African Union (AU) for his proposal that its members neither answer nor accept being tried in other countries or by international courts.

At the same time, and in the wake of the International Criminal Court’s (ICC) decision to charge the President of Sudan with genocide in Darfur, the African Union, the Arab League and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference closed ranks, accusing the West of interfering in their internal affairs.

For the first time ever, African voices clamoured as one against accountability, its methods and its agents.

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Keywords

African Union Central Africa Conflict Conflict resolution Genocide Human rights International Criminal Court International Criminal Justice Justice North Africa Peace Peace process Post conflict Responsibility to protect Rule of Law Rwanda Sudan Transitional justice Tribunal UN

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Bio author: Vidal Martín

Vidal Martín runs the "International Criminal Justice and Post-Conflict project" at FRIDE, which is related to Human Rights, Transitional and Universal Justice, as well as the complementarity between national and international courts. He previously worked at the Irish Centre for Human Rights (ICHR), National University of Ireland (Galway).