Investigating pathways to accountability for international crimes in Africa : Comparative review of selected justice mechanisms

Abstract

In the pursuit of a model of justice adapted to the context of Africa and against the backdrop of the backlash of the African Union against the ICC, alternative and complementary justice mechanisms are envisaged and developed by African countries. This study seeks to verify if the justice mechanisms addressing international crimes in Africa constitute independent and effective models of justice for the continent. Four mechanisms are at the core of this research notably the ICC, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the criminal chamber of the African Court of Justice and Human Rights, and the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Courts of Senegal. The study first undertakes an in-depth legal analysis of the criticism addressed against the ICC as well as the rationale behind the development of other justice mechanisms. It further assesses the capacities of the selected mechanisms to deliver independent justice and address African specificities. Four criteria have been identified based on available scholarship to assess the capacity of the justice mechanisms to address African specificities. The first one is the capacity of the mechanisms to address the prevalence of NIAC on the continent. Another criterion is their ability to address the recruitment of child soldiers and sexual and gender-based violence. A third criterion is their ability to address the causes of violent crimes. The last one is if they are sheltered from political influence. The study shows that the ICC and the Extraordinary African Chambers display the greatest guarantees of independence and effectiveness in addressing the issues of serious crimes on the continent. It also underscores, particularly to the ICC, issues that must be resolved for the justice mechanisms to be more effective.