Why Judgments Are Not History: the limitations of courtroom contributions to the historical record in Africa

Description

A central claim of international criminal prosecutions is that they contribute to fact-finding and establishing a historical record. But do they? In this presentation Dr. Thijs Bouwknegt addresses the process of legal-historical truth finding, the use of witness testimonies as historical sources, and the legacies of international trials in the wake of the civil war in Sierra Leone (1991-2002), the genocide in Rwanda (1994), and contested leadership change in Côte d’Ivoire (2010 -2011). He raises important questions about the discrepancies between prosecutorial and historical endeavors.

Period	04 Nov 2019
Held at	Fletcher School of Law and Diplomacy, Tufts University, United States
Degree of Recognition	International