DESCRIPTION

The Institute for Justice and Reconciliation (IJR), based in Cape Town, South Africa, convened a Regional Consultation on the theme of The International Criminal Court and Community-Level Reconciliation: In-Country Perspectives, at the Crowne Plaza Hotel in Johannesburg, from 21 to 22 February 2011. Twenty-three participants from IJR's partner organisations from seven African countries namely Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Kenya, Rwanda, Sudan, Uganda and Zimbabwe participated in this Regional Consultation. Participants were drawn from the International Criminal Court, governments, international non-governmental organisations, civil society organisations, multilateral agencies and academia (see Appendix B for a list of the participants). The objective of the Regional Consultation was to engage practitioners in the field of transitional justice in assessing how the interventions of the International Criminal Court (ICC) are impacting upon communitylevel reconciliation in what the Rome Statute refers to as situation countries.

The discussions at the Regional Consultation focused on three themes: peace and justice; cooperation and complementarity; as well as the rights of victims. The ICC is likely to remain implicated in international justice processes on the African continent. This Regional Consultation was therefore a timely intervention providing a platform for African voices from the continent to comment on issues that have been precipitated by the Court's intervention. The emphasis on the impact of the ICC on community-level reconciliation addresses an issue that has been over-looked in the analysis and research of the Court's impact on the African continent. It is on this basis that the 2011 IJR Regional Consultation was convened.