World Cup football- more than just a beautiful game

The Nobel Prize has had its fair share of controversy despite being established with the best intentions. It is an award designed to recognise those in service of humanity in physics, chemistry, physiology or medicine, literature, and peace. Particularly in the peace category there have been some dubious awards and some undeserving winners, but this […]

25 September 2018 marked 41 years since some 15 000 people attended 30-year-old, Steve Biko’s funeral in King Williams town. The thought leader, activist, and anti-apartheid stalwart’s influence remains deeply relevant to this day. Born in the Eastern Cape, Biko was a bright student who decided to study medicine at the black section of the […]

“I am what I am, so take me as I am”- Johann Wolfgang von Goethe. In an eloquent, unanimous, landmark ruling that opens with the above quote, India’s highest court, the Supreme Court, decriminalised consensual gay sex between adults earlier this month. This judgement is the first important step in the recognition of rights of […]

On Friday 10 August 2018, Sudan’s ruling party, the National Congress Party (NCP) chose President Bashir to run as their candidate in the 2020 elections. Bashir has been in power since 1989 and in 2020 he will be 76 years old. The current Constitution provides for a two-term limit and the National Congress Party’s Charter […]

Sunday 29 July 2018 marked the 28th anniversary of the St Peters Lutheran Church Massacre where 600 women, men and children died, in Monrovia, Liberia in 1990. Despite new leadership in Liberia, domestic justice for this Massacre, and other heinous crimes committed during the civil wars remains elusive. The First Liberian Civil War, which started […]

“My family was taken inside.There are 7 people in the family. They [government soldiers] closed the door, then they started putting the fire. They started burning the house.” These are the words of John Janoub, a displaced South Sudanese man whose family was burnt alive in an attack allegedly led by government soldiers in 2016. […]

This article first appeared on Blog of the Gronigen Journal of International law on 25 June 2018. Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir’s continued visits to Rome Statute Member States, including but not limited to Chad, Malawi, the Democratic Republic of Congo, South Africa and most recently Jordan, have caused much legal consternation and uproar from both […]

**By Navi Pillay and Angela Mudukuti This article first appeared in the Daily Maverick on 19 June 2018 The introduction of the International Crimes Bill before the Portfolio Committee on Justice and Correctional Services, two weeks ago, signals steadfast resolve to eventually withdraw from the Rome Statute. Impetus and momentum for withdrawal was generated by […]

Last week the High Court handed down an important judgment that will have an effect on justice for apartheid era crimes in South Africa. After seeking closure for over 30 years, Nokuthula Simelane’s family is finally one step closer to what has seemed elusive and unattainable for so long- justice for their slain anti-apartheid heroin. […]

Earlier this month a Sudanese court sentenced 19 year old, Noura Hussein, to death. Her crime – killing a man in self-defence. This man, was the man she was forced to marry when she was 16, he was also the man who had reportedly raped her with the help of his cousins and brother. At […]