Judicializing economic violence as means of dismantling the structural causes of atrocity in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

The International Criminal Court (ICC) convicted three militia commanders – Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, Germain Katanga and Bosco Ntaganda – for war crimes and crimes against humanity committed in Ituri, in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, none of these convictions have resulted in a cessation of violence in the region, as recent events have illustrated. Although the ICC is one initiative aimed at securing peace in Ituri, the extent of the ICC’s engagement with this particular context presents a good opportunity to reflect on its limited contribution and to illustrate the structural violence problems that underlie most, if not all, ICC situations and cases in Africa. Furthermore, it will be argued that the ICC can redeem itself from its embeddedness within the liberal peacebuilding paradigm by judicialising the economic realities of violence, thereby combating some of the worst effects of structural violence.