World Cup football- more than just a beautiful game

On 4 September last week the UN Commission of Inquiry on Burundi released its latest report. The situation in Burundi continues to warrant deep concern as grave human rights violations persist. Experts estimate that it may only get worse as the 2020 elections draw closer. After all, it was a political crisis in 2015 election […]

For decades, civil society actors from the Global South have been asking when weapons manufacturers (who are usually from Europe/ the US) will be held accountable in some way for the arms they supply that ultimately fuel conflict in the Global South. The June 2019 legal complaint involving Sasol Solvents Germany GmbH, BASF Antwerpen NV, […]

“From the big ship they were making calls, but said: ‘Sorry, we can’t take you, it’s not my fault, orders are that Libyans will come to take you’. Meanwhile, I could see people dying on the other boat, pieces of boat were floating and bodies too. [By the time] a small Libyan ship came to […]

At a time when the International Criminal Court is facing significant challenges, many are questioning the trajectory of the global international criminal justice project. However, universal jurisdiction presents refreshed avenues for justice, particularly in the case of the atrocities committed in Liberia during the civil war in 1989-2003. Last week, the Swiss Office of the […]

Many thought this day would never come, and I consider myself one of them. Last week President Omar al Bashir became former President Omar al Bashir after months of citizen led protests and a definitive intervention by the Sudanese Army. The remarkable power of citizen protests and the dogged determination to topple a corrupt regime […]

The 2012 civil war saw the inhabitants of the Central African Republic (CAR) experience the worst atrocities. During the week of 2 February this year, the CAR government signed a peace accord with the 14 rebel groups that have been jostling for power and control in the mineral rich central African nation. This is the […]

Last week the International Criminal Court (ICC) acquitted Laurent Gbagbo and Charles Blé Goudé from all charges of crimes against humanity allegedly committed in Côte d’Ivoire in 2010/ 2011, a devastating blow to the victims and prosecution witnesses.  It has given the Court’s critics ammunition to further discredit the institution as they view acquittals as a […]

There is very little good news coming out of the US these days and US leadership (in the form of the current president and his supporters) is exhibiting deep and vexing shades of racism, bigotry, misogyny and xenophobia. However, the swearing into office of the nation’s most diverse Congress in the history of the country […]

The 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence Campaign ran from 25 November to 10 December and it is designed to raise awareness and spur institutions, governments, ordinary citizens into action to bring an end to violence against women and girls. Campaigns of this nature remain vital especially when the perpetrators of sexual violence know […]

The treatment of women in society remains a necessary topic of discussion more so after last week’s disturbing report about the prevalence of bias against women, and sexual harassment at the African Union Commission,(AUC) the AU’s secretariat. The AU and its Commission, institutions that were designed to foster development and progress in Africa, are hardly […]