In August 2003, the Truth and Reconciliation Commission for Peru published its final report, putting the number of people murdered and disappeared during those years at approximately 69,000. In its report, the Commission made several recommendations, all of which were directed towards achieving reconciliation. What struck me the most was the Commission’s insistence that all of its recommendations had one major prerequisite: the establishment of the truth and the accomplishment of justice. Or, in the Commission’s words: If the establishment of the truth is a pre-condition for reconciliation, justice is at the same time a pre-condition for establishing the truth and a consequence of it.

This principle filters through the Report in its entirety and has guided me in my career ambitions ever since. When I started learning about the International Criminal Court (ICC)…

An estimated 300,000 to 500,000 people died under his brutal reign of terror. Justice was never served. 80,000 of the country’s minority, named “bloodsuckers” by the tyrant, were expelled with 90 days to flee their property and possessions. Justice was never served. No, this is not al-Bashir’s Sudan. This is Uganda, and at the helm of hell was military dictator and President Idi Amin, who died in exile on Saudi Arabian soil in 2003. Following his 8 years as ruler of Uganda in the 1970s, Idi Amin spent 24 years unpunished, living seaside in the Kingdom. The rivers of justice ran dry as the former President soaked up the sun for more than two decades.

In an effort to build a comprehensive understanding of the challenges facing the system of international criminal justice, the Hauser Center interviewed Tyler Moselle, Program Manager and Interim Executive Director at Harvard Kennedy School’s Carr Center for Human Rights Policy on the conflicts in Afghanistan and Pakistan, as well as addressing the broader issue of the connection between national security and international justice.

Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court—the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur. The Reckoning keeps you on the edge of your seat.

Universities and research centers are an important segment of the nonprofit sector. Students, teachers, and researchers at these NGOs provide unique resources, expertise and mobilization support for many human rights and justice efforts. Strengthening relationships with these groups is a key priority for the ICC’s Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) over the next three years.

In preparation for the Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice to be held in September at the United Nations in New York, a planning meeting was held in May 2009 in which Hauser Center staff interviewed Luis Moreno-Ocampo, the Prosecutor of the ICC and two graduate students at Harvard University on student engagement, the preparatory session, and the September conference.