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POL3ILO WEEK 10 The AU and TWAIL

POL3ILO WEEK 10 The AU and TWAIL. This lecture. Third World Approaches to International Law How TWAIL influenced development of OAU and AU AU approach to IL Laws of intervention Peace and security frameworks A criminal court for Africa?. TWAIL. Context:

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POL3ILO WEEK 10 The AU and TWAIL

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  1. POL3ILOWEEK 10The AU and TWAIL

  2. This lecture • Third World Approaches to International Law • How TWAIL influenced development of OAU and AU • AU approach to IL • Laws of intervention • Peace and security frameworks • A criminal court for Africa?

  3. TWAIL Context: • History and origins of IL in Europe • TWAIL inspired by decolonization movements, calls for reform of IL to address concerns and lived experience of the Third World • Crystallised at the Bandung Conference 1955

  4. TWAIL Key Principles • IL makes sense only in the context of the lived experience of the peoples of the TW • IL complicit in colonialism • Experience of colonialism and neo-colonialism makes TW states and peoples acutely sensitive to power relations between states

  5. TWAIL Key Principles • IL needs to be transformed from a language of oppression to a language of emancipation • ‘body of rules and practices that reflect and embody the struggles and aspirations of TW peoples and truly promotes global justice’ • IL has been coercive, non-consensual and ‘tyrannical’ in relation to the TW • Links between ‘international order of poverty’ and the ‘poverty of the international order’

  6. TWAIL Key Positions • Colonial IL legitimized the subjugation and oppression of TW peoples • Pre-colonial TW states weren’t strangers to IL • Non-rejectionist stance towards modern IL • Stressed sovereign equality of states, position on intervention is complex though • Critique of the supposed universalism of IL  Intellectual and political opposition to world order

  7. 3 objectives of TWAIL • To understand, deconstruct and unpack the uses of IL as a medium for the creation and perpetuation of a racialized hierarchy of international norms and institutions that subordinate non-Europeans to Europeans • To construct and present and alternative normative legal edifice for international governance • To eradicate the conditions of underdevelopment in the TW throughscholarship, policy and politics. (Mutua)

  8. The Organization of African Unity (OAU) • Estb. 1963, replaced by AU 2002 • Aims: unity and solidarity of African states, coordinate and intensify African cooperation, defend sovereignty, eradicate all forms of colonialism, remain neutral in world affairs, promote human rights, raise living standards, peaceful settlement of disputes. • Development of regional approach to IL by building on existing general IL • Developed some new principles and rules

  9. The African Union (AU) Right of intervention in Article 4(h) and (j) of the Constitutive Act “(h) the right of the Union to intervene in a Member State pursuant to a decision of the Assembly in respect of grave circumstances, namely: war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity as well as a serious threat to legitimate order to restore peace and stability to the Member State of the Union upon the recommendation of the Peace and Security Council””; and “(j) the right of Member States to request intervention from the Union in order to restore peace and security”.

  10. Why did they include this right? • Concern about OAU’s failure to intervene to stop gross HR abuses in the past in Africa • Rwanda • Uganda • Eritrea

  11. Peace and Security Council • Established as a means to operationalize Art 4(h) • Revolutionize the way conflicts are addressed • Acts either on its own initiative or at the request of a MS • Establishment of the African Standby Force ISSUES: • Definition of ‘serious threat to legitimate order’ • Relationship to the UNSC

  12. AU PKO: AMIS in Darfur

  13. AU Mission in Somalia

  14. AU Operation Democracy in the Comoros

  15. Mauritania

  16. Togo

  17. A Criminal Court for Africa? Context • Gaddafi’s opposition to ICC • AU’s Sirte decision in 2009 on non-cooperation with the ICC • Claims of ICC double standards, ‘hunting Africans’ • French prosecution of Rose Kabuye • Senegalese prosecution of HisseneHabre

  18. Proposal • To expand the African Court of Justice and Human Rights to include a Criminal Court component • Crimes: • War crimes • Crimes against humanity • Genocide • Unconstitutional change of government • Piracy • Terrorism • Mercenarism • Corruption, money laundering • Human trafficking • Drug trafficking • Trafficking in hazardous wastes • Illicit exploitation of natural resources • Crime of aggression

  19. Issues • Jurisdiction • Crimes • Relationship to the ICC • Competition with the ICC? • Resources, funding • NGO access • Court capacity, esp. re: witnesses • Credibility and integrity

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