Complementarity in the Line of Fire
The Catalysing Effect of the International Criminal Court in Uganda and Sudan

Examines the impact of the Rome Statute's complementarity principle on two states in which the International Criminal Court has intervened.

Sarah M. H. Nouwen (Author)

9781107010789, Cambridge University Press

Hardback, published 7 November 2013

525 pages, 5 b/w illus.
23.5 x 15.5 x 3.2 cm, 0.89 kg

'Over some five hundred pages and with a mammoth note apparatus, Complementarity in the Line of Fire will be a standard reference work on the International Criminal Court: massive in content and objective in analysis. … In assessing also Kwoyelo's case in Uganda, parallel to Ongwen's in The Hague, Nouwen shows that accountability is something much more profound than only bringing the culprits to the dock and making court proceedings public over the Internet. Anyone interested in how international justice and injustice unfold on the African continent must read Nouwen's book.' Sverker Finnström, African Studies Quarterly

Of the many expectations attending the creation of the first permanent International Criminal Court, the greatest has been that the principle of complementarity would catalyse national investigations and prosecutions of conflict-related crimes and lead to the reform of domestic justice systems. Sarah Nouwen explores whether complementarity has had such an effect in two states subject to ICC intervention: Uganda and Sudan. Drawing on extensive empirical research and combining law, legal anthropology and political economy, she unveils several effects and outlines the catalysts for them. However, she also reveals that one widely anticipated effect – an increase in domestic proceedings for conflict-related crimes – has barely occurred. This finding leads to the unravelling of paradoxes that go right to the heart of the functioning of an idealistic Court in a world of real constraints.

Prologue: in the line of fire
1. Introduction: complementarity from the line of fire
2. The Rome Statute: complementarity in its legal context
3. Uganda: compromising complementarity
4. Sudan: complementarity in a state of denial
5. Paradoxes unravelled: weaknesses in complementarity's catalysing effect
6. Conclusion: complementarity in the line of fire.

Subject Areas: Public international law [LBB], Law [L], International relations [JPS]