The International Crimes Division of Uganda, the first domestic international crimes court in Africa

Speaker:
Harriet Ssali Lule, Deputy Registrar of the International Crimes Division (ICD) of the High Court of Uganda

The ICD is the first domestic international crimes court to be set up in Africa, mainly to try perpetrators of the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) war led by Joseph Kony.

Since the ICD was set up in 2008, the court has embarked on a case against one of the LRA’s top commanders, Thomas Kwoyelo. The case, which is pending on a constitutional petition before the Supreme Court, will have great impact on the jurisprudence in Uganda if returned to the ICD for prosecution. The judgment is expected in early 2015.

As the Thomas Kwoyelo case and Joseph Kony arrest are still pending, the ICD has been very busy setting up the various infrastructures necessary for an international crimes court to run efficiently. Namely, the Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE) which were recently completed and the launch of the Rules is to take place in early 2015.

This lecture will delve into these and other issues related to Uganda’s ICD.