Article

The quest for justice : Joseph Kony and the Lord’s Resistance Army

Christopher E. Bailey

• Fordham international law journal, Vol. 40, issue 2, 2017, p. 247-328

English

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This article initially examines whether the Uganda-Lord’s Resistance Army (“LRA”) conflict is best characterized as a non-international armed conflict within the meaning of the Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and the 1977 Additional Protocol II. This article also raises important questions about how the international community can assist African governments in achieving accountability for jus in bello (war crimes) violations—accountability that would be widely perceived as legitimate by the affected peoples. This article argues that Ugandan criminal law has significant shortcomings that would preclude effective accountability for the full range of offenses. This article further argues that the International Criminal Court (“ICC”) cannot provide an effective forum for adjudicating the range of offenses committed in this conflict. This article concludes that the ICC should establish an agreement-based (i.e., a treaty) hybrid tribunal to prosecute war crimes committed over the course of the Uganda-LRA conflict from 1987 to the present.

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