Applying and 'Misapplying' the Rome Statute in the Democratic Republic of Congo

Abstract

This chapter in an edited volume explores how international criminal justice has been interpreted, implemented and contested within an ICC situation country. Rather than focusing on the trials of Congolese nationals in The Hague, it shifts the geographical frame to the DRC and analyses how the domestic authorities have applied and ‘misapplied’ the Rome Statute to support the government’s official policy of ‘la lutte contre l’impunité’ amidst the broader political context of the Court’s intervention in the country.

Keywords: International Criminal Court, Democratic Republic of Congo, transitional justice