International criminal justice: just an expensive mirage?
International Journal › Vol. 63 Nbr. 3, June 2008
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Summary
THE LESSONS OF HISTORY - Report
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Extract
International criminal justice: just an expensive mirage?
July 2008 produced two major developments relating to international criminal justice, highlighting again the political delicacy of this newly salient dimension of international relations. On 14 July, the prosecutor of the International Criminal Court sought an arrest warrant against serving Sudanese President Omar al-Bashir for genocide, crimes against humanity, and murder. Only a week later, on 21 July, the fugitive former president of the Bosnian Serb Republic, Radovan Karadzic, was apprehended in Belgrade and soon thereafter flown to The Hague to face the international criminal tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. While Karadzic's arrest was widely welcomed--he had forfeited over time any serious international support and had lost the active backing of most Serbs--the ICC action against al-Bashir proved highly controversial, not least within the Arab League and among a number of African governments, producing calls for the UN security council to "suspend" the ICC's proceedings in this case for a year--as the ICC statute's article 16 empowers the council to do.
This article explores key decisions creating a new framework for international criminal justice since the early 1990s and assesses whether they are proving meaningful over time. While the administration of international justice needs to be impartial, it would be naive to ignore the political drivers behind the creation of international tribunals and courts, and the conflicting agendas of those today commenting on their performance (or lack thereof). Even decisions on whom to prosecute...See the full content of this document
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