The International Criminal Court ICC has called on state parties to step up providing assistance to victim survivors. ICC is commemorating 20 years of the signing of the Rome Statute which established Hague-based court.
The European Union has criticised the visit of President Omar Al-Bashir to Uganda, a State party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court ICC. The Sudanese leader yesterday concluded a two-day working visit to Uganda at the invitation of his counterpart, President Yoweri Museveni. Museveni and his guest looked at ease, holding talks in Entebbe State House and then visiting Musevenis farm in Gomba District, some 136kms outside Kampala
The Danish Embassy in Uganda and the International Criminal Court ICC have launched a one-year access to justice project meant to engage victims of the Lords Resistance Army LRA.
The International Criminal Court ICC is celebrating 15 years of the Rome Statute, its founding treaty today. The Court is inviting people around the world to tell their stories about being 15, and how events in their youth shaped their sense of justice.
Judges ordered the that the sentence be served consecutively to Bembas existing 18 year sentence for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in the Central African Republic between October 2002 and March 2003.
The president of the International Criminal Court, Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, today met victims of the LRA conflict at Lukodi trading centre in Gulu district. Lukodi is the site of the May 19th, 2004 LRA massacre in which the rebels attacked a camp for internally displaced people and killed at least 56 of them.
Uganda has started promoting the candidature of Justice Solome Balungi Bossa for a post at The Hague based International Criminal Court ICC ahead of the courts elections slated for December 2017. The move appears to contradict President Musevenis position on the role of ICC. In May last year, after being sworn in for a fifth presidential term, Museveni described ICC as a useless institution and rallied other African leaders to withdraw from the Rome Statute.
The delegation was jointly led by the Acholi Paramount Chief David Onen Achana II and the Archbishop of Gulu, John Baptist Odama. They noted that the nature of the crimes committed violated traditional, Ugandan and international law and therefore warranted action against perpetrators. The statement adds that the trial will ultimately help people reconcile with their past and move towards peace.
ICC Senior Trial Lawyer Benjamin Gumpert told the Judges that seven of the victims who will testify in the Court as witnesses are women raped by Ongwen. The lawyer says Ongwen forced them to be his wives and produced children with them against their will.
The ICC prosecutors talk of pillaging, cruel torture, enslavement and killing among the eminently referred to crimes committed by Ongwen in Pajule and Odek camps. They say at least 61 camp dwellers in Odek including the elderly persons and heavily pregnant women were short dead under the direct command of Ongwen in March 2004. During the attacks 35 civilians including eight girls were abducted.
Prosecutors at the International Criminal Court have acknowledged that Dominic Ongwen was abducted as child and conscripted into the ranks of the rebel Lords Resistance Army LRA ranks. The prosecutors led by Fatou Bensouda, however, told judges at The Hague-based court that this would not exonerate Ongwen from prosecution.
At the opening of his trial, Dominic Ongwen, the former Lords Resistance Army LRA commander has told judges at The Hague that he doesnt understand the charges being brought against him.
The trial is being streamed in the four case locations where Ongwen is alleged to have masterminded and personally commanded atrocities on civilians in Odek and Lukodi in Gulu district, Pajule and Abok in Pader and Oyam districts respectively.
Stephanie Rivoal, the newly appointed French Ambassador to Uganda notes that the objective of the court has been to try perpetrators of war crimes and leaving the ICC may jeopardise efforts to curtail these.
Through their legal representatives, victims are accorded participation right to consult the record of the files, right to be notified of documents filed, general right to attend and participate in case hearings, make written submissions or observations and question witnesses. Trial Chambers might grant additional rights.
Prime Minister Rugunda tells Parliament that Ugandas final decision on its status in the Hague-based court will be hinged on a decision by the African Union resolution to withdraw support to the international crimes body.
A team of 11 lawyers will represent Dominic Ongwen, the former commander of the Lords Resistance Army LRA currently facing charges at the International Criminal Court ICC.
The appeal, embedded in the annual report of the ICC, comes barely a week after three African countries -- South Africa, Burundi and Gambia -- announced their intention to withdraw from the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the Court. They claim the court has been used to persecute African leaders.
