Legal Aid workshop underway in Kenya

Africa Legal Aid (AFLA), in cooperation with the Kenya Section of the International Commission of Jurists and the Institute for Security Studies, will convene a Workshop on Africa to deliberate on issue relating to the Complementarity in Situation Countries, from 3 to 4 December.

Nairobi, Kenya, has been chosen as the venue for this Workshop in light of recent challenges to international justice in Kenya, and due to the fact that Kenya will soon become the newest ICC situation country.

The workshop will build on AFLA's ongoing activities on International Justice and its Gender Justice Campaign. It will engage African civil societies, legal fraternities, gender groups and policy makers in critical dialogues on Africa and the ICC, and more generally on Africa and international justice.

Is the ICC a Court of Last or First and only Resort?

The Meeting will address how national systems in ICC situation countries are complementing the ICC Statute on the ground. Experiences and perspectives from Kenya, Uganda, Sudan, the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) and the Central African Republic (CAR) will be shared. A special edition of AFLA's “flagship journal,” the AFLA Quarterly on ' Africa and International Justice: After Kampala' will be issued at the Workshop.

As AFLA's Executive Director, Evelyn Ankumah has observed in her Editorial of this Quarterly, “The Complementarity Principle teaches that it is first and foremost up to national Courts, not the International Criminal Court (ICC), to hold perpetrators of international crimes criminally accountable.

Unfortunately too many states, in particular those where the gravest atrocities are committed, are unwilling and/or unable to hold perpetrators accountable. Strengthening the ICC and increasing its resources is desirable. Yet arguably more important is the need to increase the capacities and willingness of state parties to take responsibility”.

More specifically, the Workshop will address Reparations and Victims' Participation and Gender Mainstreaming in International Justice. The Workshop will conclude with the adoption of practical outcomes which will be submitted for consideration by the forthcoming Meeting of the Assembly of State Parties to the ICC, as well as the AU Summit.

The Conveners of the Workshop have enlisted a faculty of Experts and Resource Persons to share their knowledge and expertise. These include H.E. Fatou Bensouda of the International Criminal Court (ICC), Hon. Betty Murungi of the ICC Victim's Trust Fund, Mr. Akbar Khan, Director of Legal and Constitutional Division of the Commonwealth Secretariat, Mr. Donald Deya, CEO of the Pan African Lawyers' Union, and the Africanist Human Rights Scholar and Advocate, Prof. Shadrack Gutto.

The Meeting is open to all working for human rights and justice development, but prior registration is required. To Register e-mail [email protected] or visit www.africalegalaid.com.