Justice Beyond The Hague

When the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established more than twenty years ago, the international community had little experience prosecuting the perpetrators of genocide, war crimes, and other atrocities. Unfortunately, there has been ample opportunity to build expertise in the intervening decades; ad hoc tribunals have been established to address past crimes in Cambodia and Sierra Leone, and a formal International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) was convened in the aftermath of Rwanda's 1994 genocide. Since 2002, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has assumed responsibility for new prosecutions, pursuing war criminals in countries unable or unwilling to bring them to justice domestically. Yet, after more than two decades of experience, the limits of these courts' capabilities are becoming clear. While they have brought some senior leaders to justice, the scope of the courts' budgets and their enquiries can never reach all--or even most--perpetrators of atrocities. They are physically far removed from the scenes of the crimes they are prosecuting, cannot compel evidence or conduct independent investigations, and are vulnerable to changes in funding and international political support. To overcome these and other difficulties, the international community must place greater emphasis on strengthening the national justice systems of the countries where atrocities have occurred. In this Council Special Report, David Kaye examines existing international justice mechanisms, analyzes how they have succeeded and where they have failed, and explains what reforms national legal systems will require to secure just and peaceful outcomes. Cognizant of the myriad individual challenges facing countries experiencing or emerging from violent conflict, Kaye nevertheless identifies a core set of common needs: political pressure on governments reluctant to prosecute perpetrators; assistance in building legal frameworks and training legal officials; support for investigations, including forensic analysis and security sector reform; and creating belief in the justice system among the local population. To these ends, Kaye outlines several recommendations for U.S. policymakers and their governmental and nongovernmental partners worldwide. Beginning in the United States, Kaye argues that Washington should expand diplomatic and financial support for national justice systems and appoint a senior official to oversee initiatives from the State Department, Justice Department, USAID, and other agencies. Abroad, he calls for the secretary of state to organize a donor conference to agree on funding priorities and responsibilities for the international community, and to establish a coordinating body to ensure that support for national-level justice systems is properly coordinated and informed by best practices. Justice Beyond The Hague provides important insights into the strengths and limitations of current international justice mechanisms. It makes a clear case for increasing support to national legal systems and outlines a variety of ways that the U.S. government can improve and coordinate its aid with others. While there will always be a place for international courts in countries that cannot or will not prosecute perpetrators themselves, this Council Special Report successfully argues that domestic systems can and should play a more meaningful role.

"Justice in a Time of War is a translation from the French of the first complete, behind-the-scenes story of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, from its proposal by Balkan journalist Mirko Klarin through recent developments in the first trial of its ultimate quarry, Slobodan Milosevic. It is also a meditation on the conflicting intersection of law and politics in achieving justice and peace."--Jacket

This volume considers the dynamic relations between the contemporary practices of international criminal tribunals and the ways in which competing histories, politics and discourses are re-imagined and re-constructed in the former Yugoslavia and beyond. There are two innovative aspects of the book - one is the focus on narratives of justice and their production, another is in its comparative perspective. While legal scholars have tended to analyze transitional justice and the international war tribunals in terms of their success or failure in establishing the facts of war crimes, this volume goes beyond mere facts and investigates how the courts create a symbolic space within which competing narratives of crimes, perpetrators and victims are produced, circulated and contested. It analyzes how international criminal law and the courts gather, and in turn produce, knowledge about societies in war, their histories and identities, and their relations to the wider world. Moreover, the volume situates narratives of transitional justice in former Yugoslavia both within specific national spaces - such as Serbia, and Bosnia - and beyond the Yugoslav. In this way it also considers experiences from other countries and other times (post-World War II) to offer a sounding board for re-thinking the meanings of transitional justice and institutions within former Yugoslavia. Included in the volume's coverage is a look at the Rwandan tribunals, the trials of Charles Taylor, Radovan Karadzic, the Srebrenica genocide, and other war crimes and criminals in the Yugoslav. Finally, it frames all of those narratives and experiences within the global dynamics of legal, social and geo-political transformations, making it an excellent resource for social science researchers, human rights activists, those interested in the former Yugoslavia and international relations, and legal scholars.

The extremely serious nature of the crimes committed in former Yugoslavia caused the United Nations Security Council, in its resolution 827 of 25 May, 1993, to establish an ad hoc international criminal Tribunal which would be required to `try those persons responsible for serious breaches of international humanitarian law committed on the territory of former Yugoslavia between 1 January, 1991 and a date to be determined by the Council after peace has been restored.' This international jurisdiction, which has been in existence in the Hague since 17 November, 1993, depends on the political will of the nations to provide it with the means to accomplish its allotted task and to organise international judicial cooperation to assist it. International Justice for Former Yugoslavia explains the way in which the Tribunal - unique of its kind - is designed to work, and to acquaint victims and witnesses with the means available to them to institute proceedings as well as the protective measures of which they may avail themselves. In other words, it is a key to access to the International Tribunal in the Hague. The information will also alert public opinion and mobilize holders of public office and public figures in regard to the need to bring war criminals to justice. The Tribunal is competent to render justice, thus making it possible to end immunity from punishment, a condition which is a sine qua non for a return to lasting peace. It also constitutes a vital link with the hoped-for future creation of an international criminal court.

This 2003 collection of essays is based on five lectures organized jointly by Matrix Chambers of human rights lawyers and the Wiener Library between April and June 2002. Presented by leading experts in the field, this fascinating collection of papers examines the evolution of international criminal justice from its post World War II origins at Nuremberg through to the concrete proliferation of courts and tribunals with international criminal law jurisdictions based at The Hague today. Original and provocative, the lectures provide various stimulating perspectives on the subject of international criminal law. Topics include its corporate and historical dimension as well as a discussion of the International Criminal Court Statute and the role of the national courts. The volume offers a challenging insight into the future of international criminal legal system. This is an intelligent and thought-provoking book, accessible to anyone interested in international criminal law, from specialists to non-specialists alike.

Introduction: Legacy as Dialogue: Reflecting on the ICTY Experience / Carsten Stahn. - PART I OPENING REFLECTIONS. - 1 The Last Testament of the ICTY / Carmel Agius. - 2 Making Complementarity a Reality: The Experiences of the ICTY and IRMCT Office of the Prosecutor / Serge Brammertz. - 3 The ICTY and the Defence Legacy: The Association of Counsel Practising Before the ICTY / Colleen Rohan. - 4 The Moral Legacy of the ICTY, Miguel de Serpa Soares. - PART II LEGACY LENSES, THEORIZATIONS, AND NARRATIVES. - 5 The ICTY is Dead! Long Live the ICTY!: ICTY Legacies in Perspective / Carsten Stahn. - 6 Legacies in the Making at the ICTY / Viviane E. Dittrich. - 7 The Narrative Legacies of Exceptional Crime: The Prosecutor as a Peacebuilder / Simone Gigliotti and Amber Pierce. - 8 Meandering Jurisprudence and Unanticipated Legacies: The ICTY's Reach into Domestic Civil Litigation / Mark Drumbl, - PART III EXPRESSIVE PRACTICES, JUDICIAL RECORD, HISTORY, AND TRUTH. - 9 Symbolic Expression at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia / Marina Aksenova. - 10 A Partial View of History: ICTY Judgments as 'Judicial Truths' / Luigi Prosperi and Aldo Zammit Borda . - 11 Handle with Care: ICTY, Juridical By-products, and Criminological Analyses / Andy Aydin-Aitchiso. - PART IV EVIDENCE, WITNESS TESTIMONY, AND WITNESS EXPERIENCES. - 12 Lessons Learned from the Use of DNA Evidence in Srebrenica-related Trials at the ICTY / Kweku Vanderpuye and Christopher Mitchell, - 13 Whither Thou Truth and Justice: Witness Perceptions About their Contributions to the ICTY / Kimi Lynn King and James Meernik. - PART V CRIMINAL PROCEDURE, COURT MANAGEMENT, AND OUTREACH. - 14 Defence Investigative Ethics: Practical Lessons from the ICTY's Legacy for Counsel Practising in the Region / Michael G. Karnavas. - 15 Judgments and Judgment Drafting, / Thomas Wayde Pittman and Marko Divac Öberg. - 16 Muzzling the Press: When Does the Law Justify Reporting Restrictions? Contempt Cases Against Journalists at the ICTY and Beyond / Audrey Fino and Sandra Sahyouni. - 17 Translating and Interpreting at the ICTY: Lessons Learned / Ellen Elias-Bursać. - 18 Was it Worth it? A Look into the Results of the ICTY's Outreach Programme / Petar Finci. - 19 The Legacy of Youth Outreach at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia / Adrian Plevin. - PART VI PUNISHMENT, SENTENCING, AND BEYOND. - 20 Punishing for Humanity: The Sentencing Legacy of the ICTY / Margaret M. deGuzman. - 21Vertical Inconsistency of International Sentencing? The ICTY and Domestic Courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Barbora Holá. - 22 When Justice is Done: The ICTY and the Post-trial Phase / Joris van Wijk and Barbora Holá . - PART VII IMPACT ON DOMESTIC LEGAL SYSTEMS. - 23 Narratives of Justice and War in Croatia / Ivor Sokolić. - 24 The Legacy of the ICTY: The Three-tiered Approach to Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Benchmarks for Measuring Success / Jennifer Trahan and Iva Vukušić. - 25 Cooperation between Serbia and the ICTY for the Investigation and Prosecution of Violations of International Humanitarian Law / Tatjana Dawson and Ljiljana Hellman. - 26 'We Learnt that from The Hague': How the ICTY Influenced the Fairness of Criminal Trials in the Former Yugoslavia / Kei Hannah Brodersen. - PART VIII SOCIETAL IMPACT, RECEPTION, AND GAPS. - 27 The Peace versus Justice Debate Revisited: The ICTY's Impact on the Bosnian Peace Process / Jacqueline R. McAllister. - 28 Croatia's Homeland War, the Battles Over Victor's Justice, and the Legacy of the ICTY / Victor Peskin. - 29 The (Lack of) Impact of the ICTY on the Public Memory of the War in Bosnia and Herzegovina / Jovana Mihajlović Trbovc. - 30 The Broken Path to Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina: A Field Study of Memories / Rosa Aloisi. - 31 The ICTY, Truth, and Reconciliation: A Meta Reconceptualization / Janine Natalya Clark.

While resistance to international courts is not new, what is new, or at least newly conceptualized, is the politics of backlash against these institutions. Saving the International Justice Regime: Beyond Backlash against International Courts is at the forefront of this new conceptualization of backlash politics. It brings together theories, concepts and methods from the fields of international law, international relations, human rights and political science and case studies from around the globe to pose - and answer - three questions related to backlash against international courts: What is backlash and what forms does it take? Why do states and elites engage in backlash against international human rights and criminal courts? What can stakeholders and supporters of international justice do to meet these contemporary challenges?