Today the International Criminal Court is examining allegations of grave crimes in Georgia, Colombia, Afghanistan, Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire and Gaza. These “preliminary examinations” are further raising the stakes in these already high-stakes areas of conflict. In this four-minute video, leading figures in international criminal justice discuss the role of the ICC’s newly public examinations. Ken Roth, CEO of Human Rights Watch, applauds them as a useful “prod” for domestic justice as well as a way of rebutting complaints that the ICC is too focused on Africa. ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo describes his authority to conduct these inquiries…

This six-minute micro-documentary explores the tensions between humanitarian NGOs and advocates for international justice. The president of Save the Children describes his organization’s explusion from Sudan by President Bashir after the ICC charged Bashir with crimes against humanity in March 2009. The ICC Prosecutor argues that President Bashir expelled these groups, not because of any real cooperation between the NGOs and his office, but to pressure the international community. The president of Human Rights Watch calls for a “parallel partnership” between humanitarian NGOs and the ICC to prevent…

This week, the judges of the ICC authorized a formal investigation of Kenya’s post-election violence, raising the prospect that political leaders from the East African nation might face trial at the court. The Prosecutor asked judges last November to approve an investigation into the 2007-08 violence and whether Kenyan political leaders organized and financed attacks against civilians. In this 5-minute mini-documentary, leading figures in the field of international justice discuss the possibility of an ICC case in Kenya in light of the controversy over the fact that all of the ICC’s current cases are also in Africa.

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.

The Hauser Center for Nonprofit Organizations at Harvard University is convening a Consultative Conference on International Criminal Justice September 9-11, 2009 at the United Nations Headquarters in New York City.

The Conference culminates a year-long effort to better align the plans and strategies of several organs of the International Criminal Court, and other national and transnational justice mechanisms. Discussions will result in concrete action plans for improved collaboration between Court officials, civil society actors, academics…

Social media, through the democratization of technology, turns content readers into content generators and publishers. The proliferation of blogs, forums, podcasts, wikis, uploaded videos and photos show the enormous willingness of people to create and consume social media. Non-profits working in international justice and human rights can capture this energy…

For some, the international aid industry is a form of international social justice. On a grand scale, its aim is to attain social equality through alleviating poverty and mitigating the effects of conflict. Aid/development workers attempt to empower communities by supporting health clinics, organizing community elections, and providing management & financial support to local non-profits. For others, particularly some non-expatriate staff, the aid industry itself is perceived as unjust. These staff members point to significant discrepancies in salaries between expatriate and national staff even when it seems that both do similar work…