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.

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…

While the main function of the Security Council is the maintenance of international peace and security, in accordance with Article 24 of the UN Charter, the Council has played an important role with regard to the advancement of international justice. Other than the establishment by the Security Council of ad hoc Tribunals to prosecute crimes against humanity in specific conflict situations such as Rwanda and the former Yugolavia, the establishment of the Special Tribunal on Lebanon, along with the passage of resolution 1595 mandating the withdrawal of the remaining Syrian troops from Lebanon, was a landmark achievement…

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.

As a joint public-policy and law student, I took Professor Chris Stone’s “Workshop on Crime and Criminal Justice Reform in Global Context” during the Spring of 2009. Harvard’s criminal justice program connects research closely with the world of practice, so as fieldwork for this class, I spent spring break in the Hague with justice and human rights NGOs from all over the world, leaders from the International Criminal Court, and staff from Harvard’s Hauser Center. On this trip the group I was a part of was tasked with beginning to understand and describe the ‘network’ of the ICC within the larger international criminal justice system.