World Cup football- more than just a beautiful game

In December 2016 we celebrated the prospect of a peaceful democratic transition in Gambia as President Yahya Jammeh conceded defeat in the elections after over two decades in power. One week later, he changed his tune and refused to accept the election results. He remains defiant. Regional and international leaders are trying to persuade Jammeh […]

Last week Gambian President Yayha Jammeh accepted defeat after losing the election to a business man by the name of Adama Barrow. Whilst this should just be a normal occurrence, it is actually cause for celebration and comes as a massive surprise as it does not happen often enough in Africa. Too often leaders who […]

It has been a busy few weeks in international criminal justice. Burundi, South Africa and Gambia are leaving the Rome Statute and Russia has symbolically unsigned. While the African states have their unique reasons for withdrawing from the Rome Statute, a commonly shared and loudly articulated perception is that the ICC is targeting Africa. While […]

As right wing politicians with xenophobic agendas continue to gain momentum in Europe, Dutch politician and leader of Dutch Freedom Party (PVV), Geert Wilders is no exception. Wilders recently released his 2016 manifesto calling for the “de-Islamization” of the Netherlands as part of his campaign to win the general elections in March 2017.Opinion polls put […]

On 1 September in 1969 young Muammar Gaddafi seized power in Libya from King Idris I and remained there for nearly 42 years. Remembered as a dictator and a despot, Gaddafi’s era was marred with numerous accounts of grave human rights violations. Fast-forward to Libya today where news headlines include reports of heavy casualties as […]

Last week I visited the Dachau Concentration Camp Memorial site in Germany, the first concentration camp opened by the Nazis. I was immediately gripped by the emotionally moving exhibition and by the mere fact that I was standing at the same location where 32 000 documented deaths took place, with many more going undocumented. What […]

Reports have confirmed that President Bashir was welcomed in Uganda last week for President Yoweri Museveni’s swearing in ceremony as Museveni celebrates yet another term in office. Bashir’s presence in Uganda is particularly disturbing as Uganda is a signatory to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC), and hence the east African nation […]

Elected by his party the Patriotic Salvation Movement, Chadian President Idriss Déby has done it again- he is serving his fifth term in office after being declared the winner in the April 2016 elections. Déby has been in office since 1990. There are several components required to maintain power for such a long period of […]

Victories in the field of international criminal justice at times seem few and far between. Too often, the system’s flaws and shortcomings grab headlines but as last week has shown, international criminal justice is alive and well. Last week at the International Criminal Court, we saw the confirmation of charges against Ugandan Dominic Ongwen, the […]