A few facts about the conflict in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC): Numerous individual conflicts since 1996, involving up to 7 nations and 25 armed groups. Estimates of between 3.5 and 7.8 million deaths since 1998. Hundreds of thousands of refugees. Over 200,000 UN reported rapes in the last decade. Women in the […]
Anyone interested in understanding the history of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and prosecuting war crimes should take a look at the new documentary “The Reckoning.” This film can currently be viewed on-line here [Warning: contains extremely graphic scenes of violence]. The movie explains the court’s history, its foundations in international criminal law that began […]
Speaking in Kenya, U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton said it is a “great regret” that the US is not a member of the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague.
5-Aug-09 – The conflict in eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) has seen a massive upsurge in sexual violence against men. By Lisa Gambone.
‘Dozens’ of Guantanamo detainee cases have been referred to federal prosecutors in Washington, D.C., New York and Virginia. US Attorney General Eric Holder has reportedly met with federal prosecutors from these jurisdictions, each of which has experience handling international terrorism cases. The debate continues as to what to do with the remaining 229 detainees, with […]
On her ten day trip through Africa, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton will make two stops in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) – capital Kinshasa and Goma in the east. Estimates state that conflict in the DRC (a country the size of the US east of the Mississippi) has resulted in 3.5 […]
Serbian authorities declared this week that top war criminal fugitive, Ratko Mladic, has his days numbered. Mladic was the general in charge of the Serbian military at the massacre in Srebrenica in which 7,000 Muslims were killed. He was also the officer responsible for ordering the shelling of civilians in Sarajevo in the early 1990s […]
On July 14, the prosecution wrapped up its case against Thomas Lubanga, the first ever accused brought before the International Criminal Court (ICC). Lubanga, the alleged leader of the Union des Patriotes Congolais (UPC), and its military wing the Forces Patriotiques pour la Libération de Congo (FPLC), has been charged with enlisting and conscripting child soldiers between […]
The writers and supporters of the War Crimes series for the Foreign Policy Association honor July 17 as International Justice Day. July 17 marks the anniversary of the drafting of the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court. The U.N. General Assembly launched a five-week diplomatic conference in Rome in June 1999 to establish an […]
The Special Court for Sierra Leone is in a dire financial situation according to Chief Prosecutor Stephen Rapp who appealed to the U.N. Security Council today for more funds. Mr. Rapp described the situation as “an impending crisis” and warned of a break-down of the courts functionality without additional resources: Even if all pledged donations […]
The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has found Tharcisse Renzaho, former prefect of Kigali-Ville and Colonel of the Rwandan Armed Forces, guilty of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity for his involvement in the 1994 genocide of approximately 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus in Rwanda; he was acquitted of complicity to commit genocide. He has […]
Late last week Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Luis Moreno Ocampo, received an envelope containing the names of a dozen top suspects of crimes against humanity in Kenya. The alleged crimes against humanity occurred following the disputed 2008 Kenyan presidential election and the list is rumored to implicate some of Kenya’s most senior […]
Charles Taylor testified Tuesday before the U.N.-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone for the first time, calling the charges against him bogus. Taylor served as president of Liberia during the 1991-2002 civil war in neighboring Sierra Leone. Taylor allied with the leader of the Revolutionary United Front, Foday Sankoh, operating in Sierra Leone to hijack […]
President Obama has nominated Stephen Rapp, currently the Prosecutor for the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), as his Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues. As head of the Office of War Crimes Issues, Rapp will report directly to Secretary Clinton regarding a wide range of war crimes issues – from Darfur to Burma […]
Mourners gathered in the Bosnian town of Srebrenica to honor the victims and mark the anniversary of the bloodiest massacres during the 1992-1995 Bosnian War. War crimes fugitive Gen. Ratko Mladic led his troops in July 1995 into the U.N. safe-haven of Srebrenica and “stripped all the male Muslim prisoners, military and civilian, elderly and […]