ANALYSE : Justice versus peace: a dilemma for the International Criminal Court
Par Multipol le lundi 25 février 2008, 11:25 - Droit international - Lien permanent
Jean-Baptiste HARELIMANA
The purported tension between peace and justice is well-known, and it continues to be real and important. This paper will focus upon challenges and opportunities for pursuing “holistic” peace and justice simultaneously.
How to implement the Rome Statute where conflict resolution initiative are ongoing or are in the process of implementation? What happens - and what should happen - when efforts to prosecute perpetrators of mass atrocities coincide with a peace process? What is the best approach when the price of a peace deal seems to be a degree of impunity for those most responsible for such abuses?
The Rome Statute’s entry into force in July 2002 represented the culmination of massive international effort to address impunity. Its central features are its permanence and international nature, bringing distinct advantages over some domestic transitional processes and some ad hoc processes.
The international community including, notably, African countries, played a significant role in the negotiation of a compressive and robust treaty which lays the foundations for an effective international strategy for the prosecution of the most serious crimes of international concern, namely genocide, war crime and crime against humanity, and attainment of justice for the victims of those crimes. Very significantly, the establishment of the ICC (and the creation of ad hoc tribunals and special courts before it) also signaled the conviction of the international community that the justice is an intrinsic component of durable peace.
Lire le texte dans sa version intégrale.
Copyright : © 2008 Jean-Baptiste HARELIMANA. Tous droits réservés.
Mode officiel de citation : Jean-Baptiste HARELIMANA, « Justice versus peace: a dilemma for the International Criminal Court », Multipol, février 2008, <http://www.multipol.org>.
The opinions expressed in this article are solely those of the author.