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Gross human rights violations are often amongst the main causes of armed conflicts. More of these abuses occur during the armed conflict itself. It is widely believed that punishing the crimes that occurred during a conflict constitutes one of the essential measures of effective conflict resolution and post-conflict peace-building. However, when no decisive victory is achieved by any party and the conflict must hence be resolved through negotiations, warlords who are responsible for some of these crimes refuse to agree on any ceasefire except on the condition of an amnesty. The main aim of this article is to find an answer to the dilemma created by this situation : achieve peace and ensure justice for the victims altogether. This paper deals with this tricky issue, focusing on three specific African countries : Liberia, Sierra Leone, and Uganda. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]