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Bio: |
James Gondi is a Senior International Law and Transitional Justice Expert with over 18 years of experience working at the intersection of accountability, human rights, and post-conflict justice across Sub-Saharan Africa and beyond. James has built a substantive body of work spanning international criminal justice, truth and reconciliation processes, and institutional reform.
As Legal Officer at the International Commission of Jurists (ICJ Kenya), James worked at the frontlines of advocacy for the domestication of the Rome Statute in Kenya — a critical period during which the country\'s relationship with the ICC was being actively contested. He engaged on questions of complementarity, state cooperation, and the design of credible local judicial mechanisms to address crimes committed during Kenya\'s 2007–2008 post-election violence. He was a prominent public voice insisting that any domestic accountability process must complement, not displace, the ICC process — a position that shaped civil society\'s engagement with both the Kenyan government and the international community. James also edited Reflections on the 2017 Elections in Kenya: Paper Series on Emerging Judicial Philosophy in Kenya (ICJ Kenya, 2018), a landmark publication cataloguing electoral jurisprudence and judicial independence, held in the collection of Berkeley Law Library. He further edited The Future of International Criminal Justice in Africa (ICJ Kenya), a compendium of critical essays addressing complementarity, the Malabo Protocol, gender justice, and the role of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP) in accountability for atrocity crimes — cementing his position as a leading voice on the trajectory of international criminal justice on the continent.
He led the Baseline Study on Transitional Justice and Reconciliation in Ethiopia, Somalia, and Sudan for the Life & Peace Institute (LPI), a rigorous multi-country assessment that mapped the policy landscape, evaluated the capacity of civil society actors, and identified strategic entry points for transitional justice engagement across three of the Horn of Africa\'s most volatile contexts. The study combined extensive field research — including focus group discussions, key informant interviews, and in-country workshops — with deep comparative analysis of formal and customary justice systems, from Ethiopia\'s traditional dispute resolution mechanisms such as the Shimgelina and Gereb, to Somalia\'s clan-based Xeer and Sudan\'s community-rooted Yuddia. James\'s findings informed LPI\'s Horn of Africa Programme strategy and contributed practically to regional debates on how to sequence and sustain transitional justice processes in politically fragile settings. More recently, he led a Scoping Study on Transitional Justice Entry Points in the Greater Horn of Africa for Impunity Watch -The Hague (Ethiopia, Eritria, Sudan, South Sudan, Djibouti, Kenya & Uganda), further consolidating his regional expertise.
James contributed significantly to research and dissemination of the African Union Transitional Justice Policy (AUTJP), engaging critically with its frameworks for truth, justice, reparations, and institutional reform across African post-conflict contexts. He is a contributor to the International Journal of Transitional Justice and co-author of the Nairobi Principles on Accountability, a landmark policy instrument shaping regional accountability norms.
James brings particular expertise in linking transitional justice with environmental accountability. He has analysed the ICC Office of the Prosecutor\'s Policy on Environmental Crimes through a transitional justice lens — work that positions him at the cutting edge of emerging accountability frameworks. He has also engaged substantively with climate reparations theory and practice, contributing to Pan-African advocacy at the intersection of historical injustice, environmental harm, and reparative justice. James has led campaigns in Africa for the advancement of ecocide law, working to build momentum for the recognition of ecocide as an international crime and its integration into accountability frameworks relevant to the African context. |
