The reason that most scholars attribute to the “failure” of International Law, is that it is purely consent based. Treaties that bind a state through its consent, ratification and accession alone can be invoked against it. Customary norms that a state does not persistently or subsequently object to are the only things that bind it. Judicial decisions do not hold sway with the principle of stare decisis, as they bind only those states that are party to it. Any source of law, therefore, is…

Twenty years after the brutal reign ended, Chad’s ex-dictator, Hissene Habre, is now being prosecuted by the Extraordinary African Chambers in Senegal. Habre’s exit to Senegal in 1990 came just after his brutal reign drew to an end – a period that was characterised heavily by torture and killings that numbered by the thousands. A domestic Chadian inquiry was instituted, and while in exile, Habre remained at large.

He managed to escape many attempts that were made to initiate trials…