ABSTRACT

This book investigates the relationship between the International Criminal Court and Africa (the ICC or the Court), asking why and how the international criminal justice system has so far largely failed the victims of atrocities in Africa.

The book explores how the Court degenerated from a very promising multilateral institution to being an instrumentalised, politicised, weaponised institution that ended up with the victims being the greatest losers. Instead of looking at the International Criminal Court as a recent alternative to a prevailing international criminal justice paradigm, this book argues that the Court is a manifestation of the same world order that was established by the Reconquista in 1492. Written from a decolonial perspective, the book particularly draws on evidence from Zimbabwe in order to demonstrate how the International Criminal Court is failing the victims of the four crimes that fall under its jurisdiction. Drawing on the perspectives of victims in particular, this book highlights the damage caused within Africa by the international criminal justice system and argues for a decolonial conception of justice.

The book will be of interest to researchers from across African politics, international relations, law and criminal justice.

chapter 1|17 pages

Self-writing as restitutive justice in Africa

An introduction

chapter 3|14 pages

The ICC and prosecutorial obsession

chapter 4|32 pages

Is the ICC unfairly targeting Africa? 1

chapter 5|31 pages

Can (post)colonial states deliver international criminal justice?

The case of Zimbabwe

chapter 7|20 pages

Rethinking and reconstituting the international criminal justice system

Towards a cure that heals the patient