Abstract
In recent years, there have been significant debates about the legitimacy of the ICC, in particular in countries which are, as ‘situation countries’, subject to investigative or prosecutorial activities of the Court. Perspectives from the Global South are critical against the hegemonic elements of this regime, perceived as an instrumentalisation of global human rights norms and Western imperialism. Yet, current debates about the legitimacy of international criminal justice have tended to neglect the hegemonic and counter-hegemonic capacities of non-state actors in affected communities. This chapter inquires into the role of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Uganda’s contested criminal justice processes. The chapter draws on semi-structured interviews with both domestic and international NGO staff, lawyers and victim representatives, as well as secondary sources. It also benefits from reflections based on the author’s experience as a legal practitioner in Uganda. Drawing on the theory of legitimacy, it illustrates how NGOs may perpetuate hegemonic structures of international criminal justice through the approaches that they take regarding the prosecution of international crimes at the ICC and the International Crimes Division (ICD) of Uganda. In turn, this asserts a form of sociological legitimacy of the courts in the eyes of the affected communities. On the other hand, the chapter also highlights a limited counter-hegemonic role of some domestic NGOs that prioritize domestic accountability mechanisms over international avenues. Ultimately, attention to NGOs as critical actors is essential if we are to sustain the counter-hegemonic debates in international criminal justice. The findings point to the increasing role of NGOs as key stakeholders in the future of the international criminal justice project.
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Notes
- 1.
Klamberg 2020, p. 641.
- 2.
Ibid., p. 643.
- 3.
Ibid., p. 646; Kirabira 2021, p. 24.
- 4.
See Heller et al. 2020, p. 2.
- 5.
Buckel and Fischer-Lescano 2009, pp. 451–452.
- 6.
- 7.
Stahn 2018, p. 282.
- 8.
Brimelow et al. 2016, p. 2.
- 9.
Ullrich 2016, p. 543.
- 10.
Ibid., p. 568.
- 11.
See ICC 2014.
- 12.
Ullrich 2016, p. 522.
- 13.
Haslam and Edmunds 2013, p. 49.
- 14.
See ICC 2021.
- 15.
- 16.
- 17.
- 18.
Lohne 2019.
- 19.
See generally Clark 2015.
- 20.
- 21.
Glasius and Meijers 2012, pp. 231–232.
- 22.
Munkholm et al. 2019, p. 241.
- 23.
Sander 2019, p. 857.
- 24.
Salmons 2016.
- 25.
Salmons 2012, p. 8.
- 26.
Otten 2016, p. 187.
- 27.
Krut 1997, pp. 11–12.
- 28.
Interview with ICC judge, 4 March 2021.
- 29.
Interview with David M. Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor of the SCSL, 1 March 2021.
- 30.
Schabas 2004, p. 173.
- 31.
Ibid.
- 32.
Kendall 2011, p. 587.
- 33.
Stahn 2018, p. 282.
- 34.
- 35.
Rodman 2015, p. 51.
- 36.
Ibid., p. 40.
- 37.
Interview with David M. Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor of the SCSL, 1 March 2021.
- 38.
- 39.
Slye 2018, p. 243.
- 40.
Bilchitz 2020, pp. 210–235.
- 41.
Bosire and Lynch 2014, pp. 256–258.
- 42.
Ibid., p. 275.
- 43.
Ibid., p. 276.
- 44.
Hansen and Sriram 2015.
- 45.
Okafor and Ngwaba 2015, p. 102.
- 46.
- 47.
Sperfeldt 2017.
- 48.
van der Merwe and Brankovic 2016, p. 230.
- 49.
Ainley 2015, p. 49.
- 50.
Aksenova 2018, pp. 264–265.
- 51.
Ibid., pp. 267–268.
- 52.
- 53.
See Ullrich 2016, p. 544.
- 54.
See JRP’s website: https://www.justiceandreconciliation.org/. Accessed 11 April 2021.
- 55.
Interview with local leader, 26 March 2021.
- 56.
See Hovil 2010, p. 2.
- 57.
Interview with NGO founder, 26 February 2021.
- 58.
Interview with NGO Representative, 26 February 2021.
- 59.
Clark 2015, p. 8.
- 60.
Interview with NGO founder, 26 February 2021.
- 61.
Interview with NGO founder, 26 February 2021.
- 62.
Interview with local leader, 2 April 2021.
- 63.
Interview with NGO Representative, 26 February 2021.
- 64.
- 65.
See Human Rights Watch 2017.
- 66.
- 67.
Interview with ICC staff, 29 April 2021.
- 68.
Interview with TFV Programme Manager for Uganda, 23 March 2021; see also the TFV website: https://www.trustfundforvictims.org/en/locations/northern-uganda#:~:text=The%20TFV%20has%20been%20implementing,6%2C006%20direct%20beneficiaries%20in%202018. Accessed 13 April 2021.
- 69.
Interview with NGO Representative, 26 February 2021.
- 70.
See Justice and Reconciliation Project 2009, p. 7.
- 71.
Ibid., p. 9.
- 72.
See IFAIR 2015.
- 73.
Interview with NGO representative, 2 March 2021.
- 74.
Macdonald 2019, p. 233.
- 75.
Interview with local leader and NGO representative, 6 March 2021.
- 76.
Interview with a Legal Representative for Victims in the Dominic Ongwen case, 12 April 2021.
- 77.
TrustAfrica 2019.
- 78.
Interview with founding member of UVF, 12 March 2021.
- 79.
See UCICC statement, https://asp.icc-cpi.int/iccdocs/asp_docs/ASP15/GenDeba/ICC-ASP15-GenDeba-NGO-UCICC-ENG.pdf. Accessed 26 August 2021.
- 80.
Interview with a former Coordinator of the UCICC, 2 March 2021.
- 81.
Ibid.
- 82.
See the Coalition for the International Criminal Court website: https://www.coalitionfortheicc.org/country/uganda. Accessed 12 April 2021.
- 83.
Coalition for the International Criminal Court 2017.
- 84.
Interview with a former Coordinator of the UCICC, 2 March 2021.
- 85.
Interview with a former Coordinator of the UCICC, 12 March 2021. The country adopted the International Criminal Court Act (ICC Act 2010) in June 2010.
- 86.
Interview with a former Coordinator of the UCICC, 2 March 2021.
- 87.
Interview with a former Coordinator of the UCICC, 12 March 2021.
- 88.
Kendall 2011, p. 587.
- 89.
See ICTJ-Uganda website: https://www.ictj.org/our-work/regions-and-countries/uganda. Accessed 10 April 2021.
- 90.
See the ASF website: https://www.asf.be/blog/category/country/ouganda/. Accessed 10 April 2021. See also ASF Policy Brief 2019, pp. 3–4.
- 91.
One common theme in the interviews with local NGOs and victim representatives was that NGOs raised the hopes for victims to achieve justice at the ICC.
- 92.
- 93.
REDRESS 2020.
- 94.
Interview with Benjamin Gumpert, Senior Trial Lawyer of the ICC Office of the Prosecutor, 6 May 2021.
- 95.
See Burke-White 2008, pp. 54–57.
- 96.
See the High Court (International Crimes Division) Practice Direction, Legal Notice No. 10 of 2011, Section 6(1).
- 97.
Oola 2010, p. 9.
- 98.
Interview with a journalist based in Uganda, 8 April 2021.
- 99.
- 100.
Interview with criminal lawyer, 3 March 2021.
- 101.
Interview with lawyer, 3 March 2021.
- 102.
Tadeo 2012, pp. 8–9.
- 103.
Justice Rapid Response 2019.
- 104.
Interview with NGO Representative, 26 March 2021.
- 105.
Interview with NGO Representative, 20 March 2021.
- 106.
Interview with David M. Crane, Founding Chief Prosecutor, 1 March 2021.
- 107.
See generally Schwöbel-Patel 2021.
- 108.
Branch 2014, p. 618.
- 109.
See the JRP’s website: https://www.justiceandreconciliation.org/. Accessed 11 April 2021.
- 110.
Interview with a co-founder of JRP, Boniface Ojok, 2 March 2021.
- 111.
Justice and Reconciliation Project 2008.
- 112.
Oola 2010, p. 5.
- 113.
Ibid., p. 6.
- 114.
Interview with local leader, 4 April 2021.
- 115.
Lubaale 2020, p. 20.
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Kirabira, T.R. (2023). NGOs and the Legitimacy of International Criminal Justice: The Case of Uganda. In: Jeßberger, F., Steinl, L., Mehta, K. (eds) International Criminal Law—A Counter-Hegemonic Project?. International Criminal Justice Series, vol 31. T.M.C. Asser Press, The Hague. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-94-6265-551-5_8
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