The Raoul Wallenberg Institute, in partnership with the East Africa Law Society (EALS), held a three-day workshop in Arusha, Tanzania in 2012 to discuss East African regional perspectives on international criminal law and justice.
This report, “Workshop on Regional Approaches to International Criminal Law: East African Perspectives”, is a joint publication developed by the Institute and EALS. It serves to capture the proceedings from the workshop and to present the recommendations stemming from the proceedings.
A carefully selected group of legal experts from the region facilitated the workshop in 2012. They were complemented by international experts in the area of international criminal law. The participants were drawn from the five East African Community (EAC) countries and comprised legal practitioners – both from government and private sector lawyers – as well as representatives of regional institutions and academia.
The workshop’s aims were to:
- Appreciate the existing legal and policy regimes governing transitional justice at universal, regional and national levels within an East African context
- Provide a forum for discussing East African perspectives on regional approaches to international criminal justice and linkages with developments within the EAC to extend the jurisdiction of the East African Court of Justice (EACJ)
- Formulate concrete recommendations on the establishment of an effective transitional justice regime for East Africa, pursuant to the principle of complementarity
The workshop included presentations, group work and plenary discussions that generated recommendations on how regional interventions may be structured and utilised to promote international criminal justice within the East African context.
The workshop resulted in a list of recommendations concerning the following six issues:
- ICC Effectiveness in East Africa
- The Role of Truth Seeking Initiatives
- Special Tribunals
- The Role of Traditional, Customary and Informal Justice Mechanisms in Transitional Justice Processes
- Addressing Gender Based Violence in Transitional Justice
- The Proposal to Extend the Jurisdiction of the EACJ
The workshop and publication were supported by Swedish Development Cooperation.