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Peschke, Katharina --- "The ICC investigation into the conflict in Northern Uganda: beyond the dichotomy of peace versus justice" [2011] ELECD 100; in Brown, S. Bartram (ed), "Research Handbook on International Criminal Law" (Edward Elgar Publishing, 2011)

Book Title: Research Handbook on International Criminal Law

Editor(s): Brown, S. Bartram

Publisher: Edward Elgar Publishing

ISBN (hard cover): 9781847202789

Section: Chapter 8

Section Title: The ICC investigation into the conflict in Northern Uganda: beyond the dichotomy of peace versus justice

Author(s): Peschke, Katharina

Number of pages: 28

Extract:

8 The ICC investigation into the conflict in Northern
Uganda: beyond the dichotomy of peace versus
justice
Katharina Peschke



INTRODUCTION

One cynical joke runs: `If you murder one person, you are sent to prison. If you murder ten
people, you are sent to a mental institution. If you murder ten thousand people, you are sent
to a conference room for peace talks.' Does the message behind this quip still hold true today,
in a time when more than 100 states are party to the Statute of the International Criminal
Court? When will those responsible for the killing of thousands of people go to prison instead
of participating in peace negotiations where, for the sake of peace, no one will insist that they
be punished?
The last 15 years have seen the dramatically fast-paced coming-of-age of international crim-
inal justice. The creation of two ad hoc tribunals, the International Criminal Tribunal for
Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was followed
by the establishment of the International Criminal Court (ICC), which aspires to global reach.
And as exemplified by the trials of Slobodan Milosevic, Charles Taylor and Jean Kambanda,
individual criminal accountability has become a real possibility, even for the mighty.
Insistence on criminal accountability, however, remains controversial where it is seen to
interfere with attempts to end a conflict. Three main positions can be sketched concerning the
impact of international criminal justice on the prospects for peace.
The first argues that the threat of ...