Prosecuting International Crimes in Africa - PULP - University of ...

CHAPTER
3
THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL
TRIBUNAL FOR RWANDA
TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF
INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW
1 Introduction
* LL.B (Makerere); Postgraduate Diploma in Legal Practice, School of Post-graduate
Studies, Law Development Centre (Uganda); LL.M (Pretoria); LL.M (Birmingham);
LL.D (Notre Dame). Senior Appeals Counsel, UN International Criminal Tribunal for
Rwanda; Advocate of Uganda’s Courts of Judicature; formerly Senior Lecturer, Faculty
of Law, Makerere University. The views expressed here are the author’s personal views.
1
Prosecutor v Akayesu (Case ICTR-96-4-T) Judgment 2 September 1998.
2 Prosecutor v Kambanda (Case ICTR-97-23-S) Judgment and sentence 4 September 1998.
63
George William Mugwanya*
This chapter explores the development of the international criminal law
corpus through the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR or
Tribunal) since its inception in 1994. Established soon after the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the
ICTR has adjudicated many cases of genocide and crimes against
humanity since its creation. It has also handled a number of cases dealing
with violations of laws relating to internal armed conflict – article 3
Common to the Geneva Conventions, 1949, and Protocol II Additional to
the Geneva Conventions, 1977. In adjudicating serious international
crimes, the ICTR, like its sister tribunal, the ICTY, confronted multiple
novel legal issues never before elaborated in international law, and without
or with limited precedents to draw from. From its first cases, notably
Prosecutor v Akayesu 1 and Prosecutor v Kambanda, 2 the Tribunal has
implemented a process of interpreting and giving content to substantive,
evidentiary and procedural aspects of international criminal law. It has
engendered a jurisprudence the scope and legacy of which were
unimaginable at the time of its creation.
Since its inception, overall, the Tribunal has confronted and addressed
complex legal questions with prudence and creativity, engendering an
impressive jurisprudence enriching the corpus of international criminal
law. This chapter addresses only a few substantive, procedural and