The international tribunals for serious violations of international humanitarian law in the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

• Position: Hate, Genocide and Human Rights Fifty Years Later: What Have We Learned? What Must We Do ? - Transcript

The speaker underlines how the ideal of international criminal law enforcement is solidly established for the grossest violations of human rights. There are two aspects of the current difficulties in Kosovo: (1) non-compliance by states, and (2) the challenge of operating an international criminal justice system in "real time". We do not need a police force; rather, we need an international military presence. A state of total lawlessness is beyond police capability and the social consensus on which that capability depends.

NATO is increasingly playing a new role as a peace broker in post-conflict societies. It makes sense to have a partnership between military peacekeeping operations and criminal law enforcement in a fundamentally non-compliant state. The military could enter a post-conflict situation on the condition that it take out war criminals, while viewing everything else neutrally. The speaker looks forward to the day when this is the military position.

In a peacekeeping environment, the military has important roles as enforcers and as witnesses. For a successful partnership between the enforcement of the law of war and peacekeeping, We must overcome certain defensive reservations of the international military culture. The greatest challenge in Kosovo is not so much an agreement between the two warring factions as the fostering of a peacekeeping environment in which international criminal justice will have a part to play.

Apres avoir souligne a quel point le concept de la mise eu application du droit penal international face aux violations les plus graves du droit humanitaire est largement accepte, l'auteur souleve deux problematiques relatives a la situation au Kosovo : 1 le manque de cooperation etatique et 2 la difficulte de mettre en place un systeme de justice penale internationale operant en >. Plutot qu'une force policiere, c'est une presence militaire internationale qui s'impose pour atteindre les objectifs fixes par l'ideal de justice internationale, car l'absence d'une structure legale a l'interieur d'un Etat est incapable de fournir le consensus social necessaire a rendre efficace l'action d'une force de police.

L'OTAN joue un nouveau role en tant que courtier de la paix dans des societes ravagees par des conflits. Le partenariat entre l'operation militaire de maintien de la paix et l'application du droit penaI est crucial dans le cas d'un Etat defaillant a ses obligations internationales; la force militaire pourrait, par exemple, s'acquitter de ses fonctions de maniere generalement neutre, en ciblant de facon exclusive les criminels de guerce.

Dans le cadre d'une mission de maintien de la paix, la force militaire est appelee a jouer des roles varies, par exemple comme policiers et comme temoins. Un partenariat reussi entre le maintien de la paix et l'application du droit de la guerre requiert la modification de certains aspects de la culture militaire internationale. Le defi le plus important au Kosovo n'est pas tant l'obtention d'un accord entre les parties belligerantes mais surtout la creation d'un environnement de maintien de la paix dans lequel la justice penale internationale aura un role a jouer.

Merci beaucoup, mon cher Michel et chers amis.

Professor Cotler invited me to indulge, in a sense, by telling me that I didn't have to read a prepared speech; he said I could indulge in being more reminiscent of my law school days and engaging in something less formal. I don't often have the opportunity of the presence of an interested and challenging audience to reflect on the issues that I think are the hard ones. It's always a bit scary to put on the table for discussion the most difficult issues, but if I could do it anywhere, I think I can do it in an environment that I feel is supportive and is prepared to engage in this kind of discussion. It is still scary enough that I will start by setting the background before I tackle what I consider to be the real challenges for international criminal justice. And I will use, in fact, the recent events in Kosovo, as I think they are probably the best illustration of what I want to talk about tonight.

But before I do that, and certainly in light of several questions that were put to me today, I think it's important to underline how solidly established, some five years down the road, the whole ideal of international criminal law enforcement for the grossest violations of human rights is. We are talking here about the right to life, the right to security of the person, and the right not to be tortured, raped, and persecuted on ethnic, racial, religious, or political grounds--very, very fundamental human rights! And I believe that the use of criminal sanctions as a form...