Browsing by Author "Alemu, Daniel (LL.D)"
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Item Prosecution of Crimes against Humanity and Genocide in Africa: A Comparative Analysis(Addis Ababa University, 2010-12) Alemayhu, Fekade; Alemu, Daniel (LL.D)Despite years of impunity in Africa, the 1990s saw the perpetrators of some of the atrocities in the continent face trials. However, all these efforts are varied. Some countries went through prosecuting perpetrators of crimes against humanity and genocide through their domestic courts, while other perpetrators were brought before international ad hoc tribunals. Moreover, as of 1 July, 2002, the first permanent international criminal tribunal in the world’s history, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had also pursued such perpetrators. These all efforts show the lack of uniform organized approach to dealing with crimes against humanity and genocide in the continent. This in turn leaves the issue of prosecution to the whim of governments and international organizations like the United Nations. This means prosecutions could only happen when these governments and organizations want it. This scenario encourages impunity as leaders of some governments seek to shy away from prosecuting such crimes for a reason of comradeship with the alleged perpetrators or fearing that they would one day face such prosecution themselves. On the other hand, it might happen that by prosecuting, governments want to send some political message to their opponents. The case of the United Nations Security Council is also not different. The taking of action by the Security Council depends on the political priority of the members as it is also a political organ. All in all, the consideration of prosecuting crimes against humanity and genocide would to a large extent be based on non-legal considerations, rather than ending the fight against impunity. The existence of impunity in the continent, in turn, creates a peace and security threat as victims look to the bushes rather than the court room to bring justice for the crimes they thought were perpetrated against them. This paper studies the legal frameworks or systems upon which the prosecutions took place, the challenges they faced or will face in the future and recommend the best system for prosecuting crimes against humanity and genocide in Africa by selecting five legal frameworks; the ICC, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, the Ethiopian Legal frame work for the prosecution of crimes against humanity and genocide, Senegal legal frame work for the Prosecution of Hissene Habre, and the Rwandan Legal frame work, including the ICTR.Item The Recourse to use of Force in the Post Cold War Era: A Critical Analysis of the Roles and Responsibilities of the United Nations Security Council(Addis Ababa University, 2010-12) Moges, Tadesse; Alemu, Daniel (LL.D)Though armed conflicts have been prevalent since antiquity, no express prohibition against the use of force under international law existed until recently. The adoption of the UN Charter relatively settled the matter. However, when we probe the post-UN Charter state practice, the jurisprudence of the use of force aspires to indicate some rectified paradigm and wildly at variance with the Charter’s language though it is not yet well developed and crystallized. Here, it is clear that the authority of the SC to use force under the rubric of maintaining international peace and security appears to be elastic and often discretionary. Thus resort to use of force by individual states under Art.51 as well as customary international law is subject to rigorous and controversial requirements. This is so because, it is believed that the collective security system would best serve the purpose of the international community. The theoretical as well as practical problems pertaining to the issue of use of force, the perceived practices of states, trends in its evolvement and progresses in this area, and the SC’s reactions and the tantalizing issues thereof remained unsettled. After reflecting on the skeleton of its recent stage, different shortfalls have been observed. These include: how should the conceptual flaws and gaps under the Charter be remedied? Can the Charter system with its strict provisions on the use of force withstand the prevailing pressures from unseen and unconventional actors and enlarged demands of the international community? How should the prevalent practices of international actors be integrated under the international law framework? What meanings should be accorded to the inactions, tolerance and/or subsequent approval of the SC for actions which basically violate the Charter norms? International law should not be theorized and it needs to take in to account each concrete situation and impart meaning to the prevailing legal rules on the ground. Hence, the rules regulating use of force needs to keep pace with and reflect the realities and practices at hand. Apart from deviant state practices, there are also some interesting regional developments, for instance, the introduction of interventionist doctrine by the African Union. The manner the SC has been functioning also imports of some considerations in the development of international law. Analyzing these issues inline with the Post Cold War facts is essential to specify the meaning of the rule of law in this sphere. Accordingly, the thesis argues that to effectively respond to the threats to peace and security posed by unconventional actors and proliferation of WMD and, to the demands of international community to promote justice, human rights and democracy, a comprehensive measure, among other things, attaching a due consideration to the implications of the SC’s behaviors (as it musters public support) should be adopted to ensure the viability of the global security system. This includes, ensuring the adaptability of the Charter norms, adopting a relatively relaxed threshold to weigh the validity of measures for cases of establishing customary rules, and recognizing and trying to set refined rules for the newly emerging norms.