Decapitation by Arrest: International Justice and Demobilization in the DRC

Abstract:

Commentators have vigorously debated whether international criminal justice mechanisms favor conflict or peace. Others have debated whether decapitation (i.e., assassination of leaders) strengthens or weakens militias, insurgencies, and terrorist groups. This study examines how arrests of, and threats to arrest, militia leaders pursuant to international criminal warrants have affected demobilization of Rwandan militias in the eastern Democratic Republic of the Congo.

Speaker Bio:

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Richard Steinberg  writes and teaches in the areas of international law and international relations. He currently teaches International Trade Law, International Business Transactions, and Theories of International Law, and directs Law School clinics that work with the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and conduct research in conflict and post-conflict zones.  He is also Director of the Sanela Diana Jenkins Human Rights Project, and Editor-in-Chief of the award-winning  www.ICCforum.com (link is external). In addition to his UCLA appointment, Professor Steinberg is currently Visiting Professor of Stanford Global Studies at the WSD Handa Center for Human Rights and International Justice, and the Center on Democracy, Development, and the Rule of Law at Stanford.

Co-sponsor:  HANDA Center for Human Rights & International Justice