The International Criminal Court and the invention of traditional justice in Northern Uganda

Abstract

Résumé L’intervention de la Cour pénale internationale (CPI) dans le nord de l’Ouganda a suscité l’opposition de partisans de la justice traditionnelle. Il n’y a cependant pas vraiment de consensus quant aux rituels de réconciliation, et les cérémonies de pardon hybrides qui sont organisées avec l’aide internationale et sous les auspices d’un conseil des chefs de création récente, ne sont pas aussi significatifs que les enthousiastes se plaisent à le penser. De plus, l’effort s’est concentré sur certains rituels des Acholi et de leurs voisins immédiats, et non pas sur le pays dans son ensemble. Quels que soient les problèmes posés par l’action de la CPI, la production de mythe autour d’une alternative « ethnique » spécifique nourrit les préjugés et ne fait rien pour une réconciliation nationale.

Amnesties in Transition: Punishment, Restoration, and the Governance of Mercy

“…Processes which are designed primarily by elites as part of a political deal always run the risk of instrumentalizing victims or local communities, 125 whose meaningful participation can be seriously inhibited by knowledge or capacity gaps. 126 Other perennial problems of restorative justice remain, such as determining how genuine an apology or an act of remorse is, how to prevent perpetrators from promising too much, or how to prevent acts of revenge. If anything, these challenges are felt all the more acutely in post-conflict efforts to involve 432 victims and violence-affected communities.…”

Uganda's Civil War and the Politics of ICC Intervention

“…Thus, Allen argues, ''The current consensus about customary Acholi conceptions of justice has largely emerged from the aid-funded collaboration'' between Acholi traditional male elders and the Catholic and Anglican churches. 48 The traditional reconciliation agenda signifies a convergence of interests between certain foreign humanitarian organizations, who invoke African tradition to claim cultural authenticity for their own activities, and older male Acholi who want to reinforce their faltering power with outside support. By claiming to be the exclusive arbiters of the reconstruction of Acholi society and culture, they have put forth their own version of justice as universally acceptable to the Acholi, as ''Acholi.''…”

Justice and rape on the periphery: the supremacy of social harmony in the space between local solutions and formal judicial systems in northern Uganda

“…Traditional is often used interchangeably with local, leaving ''traditional justice'' open to contestation, especially when claims of unbroken and gradual evolution of cultural practices are used to legitimize them. 9 In practice, in the absence of a functional judicial system there are a variety of responses by a group of people, usually men, to deal with the aftermath of a violation against their wives, sisters or daughters. Practices are influenced by lived and oral history derived from specific locality, circumstance, and power dynamics among the people concerned.…”