![handle is hein.journals/crimlfm21 and id is 1 raw text is: Criminal Law Forum (2010) 21:1-65 © Springer 2010
DOI 10.1007/s10609-010-9115-z
CHARLES CHERNOR JALLOH*
UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION, UNIVERSAL PRESCRIPTION?
A PRELIMINARY ASSESSMENT OF THE AFRICAN UNION
PERSPECTIVE ON UNIVERSAL JURISDICTION
[L]ately, some in the more powerful parts of the world have given themselves the
right to extend their national jurisdiction to indict weaker nations. This is total
disregard of international justice and order. Where does this right come from? Would
the reverse apply such that a judgment from less powerful nations indicts those from
the more powerful?
His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda.1
I INTRODUCTION
The African Union (AU), which is comprised of 53 countries from
the world's second largest continent, aims to promote the political
* B.A. (Guelph), LL.B., B.C.L. (McGill), M.St. and Chevening Scholar (Oxon);
Assistant Professor of Law, University of Pittsburgh School of Law, Pennsylvania,
U.S.A.; formerly the Legal Advisor to the Office of the Principal Defender, Special
Court for Sierra Leone and Associate Legal Officer in Chambers, International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. E-mail: jallohc@gmail.com. Elena Baylis, Jules
Lobel, Joseph Rikhof and Bill Schabas kindly read a draft of this article and gave
excellent feedback. Alhagi Marong, Godfrey Musila and Janewa Osei-Tutu read
earlier versions. I thank them all, as well as Viviana Waisman and Alan Cantos for
inviting me to present this paper at the July 2009 human rights course organized by
Judge Baltasar Garc6n at Complutense University (Madrid, Spain). I also
acknowledge Jacqueline Lipton and Mike Madison for facilitating a stimulating
faculty workshop on this topic in October 2009 at Case Western Reserve University
School of Law, Ohio, U.S.A. Last but not least, thanks to Linda Tashbook, and my
assistants Amy DiBella and Nidhi Kaura, all of whom provided superb research
assistance. Of course, all opinions and errors are mine.
His Excellency Paul Kagame, President of the Republic of Rwanda, Address at
the 'Facing Tomorrow Conference', Presidents Discussing Tomorrow, Jerusalem,
Israel, (May 13, 2008).](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/crimlfm21&div=1&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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