36 - Complementarity in Uganda: domestic diversity or international imposition?

Summary

Complementarity has assumed a role far beyond that of ‘cornerstone’ of the Rome Statute. This chapter reviews the effects that complementarity has catalysed in the Ugandan criminal justice system. Reviewing the effects of an increase in studies of traditional justice, on preparations for a Ugandan War Crimes Court, on a Ugandan International Crimes Act and on Ugandan attention for so-called ‘international standards’, the chapter argues that even though the text of Article 17 of the Rome Statute allows states substantial leeway as to how they wish to render cases inadmissible before the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’), the interpretation by the Court and other proponents of international criminal justice has favoured soft imposition of an international model of criminal justice to diversity among domestic and international criminal justice systems.

Introduction

Complementarity has assumed a role far beyond that of ‘cornerstone’ of the Rome Statute. The principle, which regulates concurrent claims to jurisdiction by domestic courts and the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’), has begun to shape the normative architecture of peace-making. The peace talks between the Lord's Resistance Army (‘LRA’) and the Ugandan government that took place in the capital of South Sudan between 2006 and 2008 are one of the first examples. Complementarity became the lynchpin of the Juba peace talks. The principle has catalysed several developments that were unprecedented in Uganda.