Nairobi Public Debate on International Justice

kotarski Journalism Training, Public Debates and Town Hall Meetings

On 12 February 2014, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the Wayamo Communication Foundation hosted a panel discussion on justice processes for mass crimes in Africa. (PROGRAMME)

This was the sixth in a series of public debates hosted by IWPR and Wayamo under the ReportingKenya.net banner, and featured both Kenyan and international panellists including:

  • Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor for the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)
  • Macharia Gaitho, Managing Editor for Special Projects at Nation Media Group and Chair of the Kenya Editors’ Guild
  • Charles Kanjama, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya
  • Betty Kaari Murungi, Chairperson of Akiba Uhaki Foundation and Vice Chair of the Kenya Human Rights Commission
  • Alex Whiting, Professor of Practice, Harvard Law School

Invited, but unable to attend due to travel to The Hague along with Kenya’s Attorney General Githu Muigai:

  • Evans Monari, Advocate of the High Court of Kenya; Partner, Daly & Figgis Advocates; former ICC counsel for Mohammed Hussein Ali.

The panel discussion was open to the general public and began at 10h at the Strathmore University Auditorium. Moderator Bettina Ambach, Director of the Wayamo Foundation, invited the audience to ask questions and make comments throughout the debate.

TOPICS:

The debate was streamed live at ReportingKenya.net and the panel discussion featured a range of opinions on international courts and their impact in Africa, and was introduced by Dr. Luis Franceschi, Dean of Strathmore Law School.

  • Is support for international criminal justice in decline?
  • Do perceptions of justice in Africa differ from those in other parts of the world?
  • Has the international community focused too much on prosecutions at the expense of other transitional justice mechanisms?

Photos by Matthew Rhodes, IWPR.