Legal Aid for Effective Victim Legal Representation in Kenya’s Post-Election Violence: Lessons from the International Criminal Court

Authors

DOI:

https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2022.11.17

Keywords:

Atrocity victims, common legal representative for victims, compensation, human rights, positive complementarity, post-election violence, reparations

Abstract

The International Criminal Court’s legal aid scheme pays court-appointed victims’ lawyers. Yet, whether ICC or domestic legal proceedings can provide better victim satisfaction goes beyond the question of whether external or internal legal representation is more effective in protecting victims’ rights. In circumstances where guilt is difficult to prove, as in the ICC’s Kenya cases, victims’ interests may be better satisfied by pursuing compensation from local courts. This paper therefore argues that post-election violence victims’ interests may be satisfied by legal aid to support domestic compensation claims. Although numerous victims participated in the Kenya cases, non-confirmation of charges against the former Police Commissioner, withdrawal of the Muthaura and Kenyatta case, and declining to conduct reparation hearings after vacating charges in the Ruto and Sang case, culminated in widespread victim dissatisfaction. The paper contrasts the victims’ plight in the Kenya cases with fortunes of victims who participated at the ICC with those of the CAVI Police Shooting case and COVAW Sexual and Gender Based Violence case which effectively proved more satisfying for some victims. The question is whether legal aid for victims’ representatives before domestic courts may enhance the effectiveness of local responses to atrocity crimes. Although the comparatively successful recent domestic suits illustrate advantages of pursuing constitutional-based compensation claims, as opposed to punitive-contingent reparations before the ICC, these test cases require upscaling. Notwithstanding the ‘Kenyan Trial Approach’s’ significant impact on ICC evolution, to vindicate victims’ rights, the Trust Fund for Victims may consider donating to Kenya’s Victim Protection Fund so as to supplement PEV victim compensation. Kenya’s Legal Aid Act requires reforms to support indigent victims, particularly those suffering abuse of power.

References

Books

Khamala, C.A., Crimes against Humanity in Kenya’ Post-2007 Conflicts: A Jurisprudential Interpretation (Wolf Legal Publishers 2018)

Book Chapters

Khamala, C., ‘Victims and Witnesses Protection in the Ruto and Sang case: Implication on Secondary Victimization’ in Francis Nyawo and Joseph Wasonga (eds.) International Criminal Justice since the Rome Statute (Law Africa 2019) 107-133.

Journal Articles

Juma, L. and Khamala, C., “A Dynamic Approach to Assess the International Criminal Court’s Performance in the Kenya cases” (2017) Lesotho Law Journal, Vol. 25 no. 2, 39-73.

Khamala, C.A. ‘External and Internal Common Legal Representation of Victims at the International Criminal Court: Beyond the “Kenyan Trial Approach”’ (2020) African Yearbook on International Humanitarian Law 159-191. https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2020/a6 DOI: https://doi.org/10.47348/AYIH/2020/a6

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Owenga, E., ‘DCI reopens Post Election Violence Cases as Victims Claim New Threats’ Citizen Digital, 23 November 2020 <https://citizentv.co.ke/news/dci-reopens-post-election-violence-cases-as-victims-claim-new-threats-963389/>

Websites

Ogora, L.O., ‘Why Victims “Feel Abandoned” by the Ugandan Government’ International Justice Monitor, 30, May, 2017 <https://www.ijmonitor.org/2017/05/why-victims-feel-abandoned-by-the-ugandan-government/#:~:text=The%20government%20also%20quickly%20provided,those%20who%20survived%20with%20injuries.>

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Statutes

Constitution of Kenya (The Government Printer 2010)

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Internally Displaced Persons and Affected Communities Act no. 56 of 2012

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Cases

Adrian Gilbert Muteshi v William Samoei Ruto & 4 others [2013] eKLR

Citizens Against Violence (CAVI) & 14 others v Attorney General & 3 others [2020] eKLR (the Police Shootings case)

Coalition on Violence Against Women (COVAW) & 11 others v Attorney General & 5 others [2016] eKLR <https://phr.org/wp-content/uploads/2020/12/NAIROBI-HC-CHR-PETITION-NO.-122-OF-2013-COVAW-11-OTHERS-V-A.G.-10-OTHERS-4.pdf>

Joseph Kibiwot Melly & 14 others v Ministry of Interior and Coordination of National Government & 5 others [2018] eKLR

Prosecutor v Dominic Ongwen, Decision on contested victims’ applications for participation, legal representation of victims and their procedural rights, Situation in Uganda, <https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2015_22895.PDF> (Ongwen case)

Prosecutor v Francis Kirimi Muthaura, Uhuru Muigai Kenyatta and Mohammed Hussein Ali Case No.: ICC-01/09-02/11; 23 January 2012, Decision on the Confirmation of Charges Pursuant to Article 61(7)(a) and (b) of the Rome Statute, Situation in the Republic of Kenya <https://www.icc-cpi.int/pages/record.aspx?uri=1314543> (Muthaura, Kenyatta and Ali Case)

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<https://www.icc-cpi.int/pages/record.aspx?uri=1479374> (Ruto and Sang case)

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Prosecutor v William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang, No. ICC-01/09-01/11-479, Situation in the Republic of Kenya, Decision appointing a common legal representative of victims, Dissenting Opinion of Judge Eboe-Osuji, Trial Chamber V (23 November 2012). <https://www.icc-cpi.int/CourtRecords/CR2012_09724.PDF> (Ruto and Sang case)

R v Stephen Kiprotich Leting and three others, Nakuru High Court HCCR 34/2008 (the Kiambaa Church Burning case).

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Published

2022-12-31

How to Cite

Khamala, C. A. . (2022). Legal Aid for Effective Victim Legal Representation in Kenya’s Post-Election Violence: Lessons from the International Criminal Court. International Journal of Criminology and Sociology, 11, 159–171. https://doi.org/10.6000/1929-4409.2022.11.17

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