Author Archives: acontrarioadmin

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May 4, 2017

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International Criminal Court, Jurisprudence, Special Court for Sierra Leone

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Female Victims Only? Casting Doubt on the Prosecution of Forced Marriage in Ongwen’s Case

Author: Laura Nacyte*

In December 2016, the trial against Dominic Ongwen, a former commander of Uganda’s rebel Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA), commenced before the Trial Chamber IX of the International Criminal Court (ICC). Remarkably, the defendant is the first person at the ICC to face the charge of forced marriage. The latter was brought in addition to other charges of sexual and gender-based crimes, including rape, sexual slavery, enslavement, and forced pregnancy. Although not a separate offence under the Rome Statute, forced marriage is prosecuted as an ‘other inhumane act’, a crime against humanity, pursuant to Article 7(1)(k). Continue reading →

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June 14, 2016

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International Law

UK EU Referendum and the UK’s role on the world stage

Author: Richard Mark Hampson

The UK EU referendum will have significant important consequences for the UK’s international role. If the UK were to leave the EU, it would remain an important global player. This would be, not least, because of its permanent seat on the UN Security Council. Continue reading →

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June 11, 2016

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International Law

Is Extradition under risk under the EU?

Author: Richard Mark Hampson

On 5 April 2016, the Court of Justice of the European Union (CJEU) ruled that the execution of a European Arrest Warrant (‘EAW’) must be deferred if there is a real risk of inhuman or degrading treatment because of the conditions of detention for the person concerned in the requesting state. If the existence of that risk cannot be discounted within a reasonable period, the authority responsible for the execution of the warrant must decide whether the surrender procedure should be deferred or brought to an end. Continue reading →

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May 5, 2016

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Genocide

Genocide in Nigeria: Time to Speak Daggers to a Murderous State

Arthur Anyaduba [1]

Just within a few months into 2016, several communities in Nigeria continue to witness scores of herdsmen attacks. In each instance of these barbarous attacks, hundreds of people get murdered or maimed for life. A typical scene after these massacres usually assaults the conscience with dismembered bodies, decapitated heads, raped corpses of women, looted and burnt buildings, bullet and machete wounds, and disembowelments. But what really baffles one about these unimaginable atrocities is not just their level of organization and cruelty. Or in the sophistication of the weaponry used to carry out these murders. But rather, it is in the fact that the kind of national moral outrage one expects from such a state as Nigeria is nowhere to be found. Continue reading →

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April 18, 2016

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Genocide

The Dominican Republic – Haiti Divide

Author: Regina Paulose

Most sad chapters in history involve a mix of bad (or an absence of) law and a tyrant. In 1930, Rafeal Leonidas Trujillo became the dictator of the Dominican Republic (DR). In October 1937, he ordered the massacre of thousands of Haitians (estimates range between 9,000 to 30,000 civilians). Dominican soldiers were ordered to carry a sprig of parsley and ask people to say the word “parsley” in Spanish. Those who could not pronounce the word paid the price by being hacked to death with machetes or through other violent methods. The U.S. Ambassador to the DR labeled it “a systematic campaign of extermination.” Bodies of Haitian’s were dumped in what became known as “Massacre River.” These events became known as the “Parsley Massacres” or “El Corte.” Continue reading →