The Burden of Bearing Witness: The Impact of Testifying at War Crimes Tribunals

2017 ◽  
Vol 63 (2) ◽  
pp. 348-372 ◽  
Author(s):  
Kimi King ◽  
James Meernik
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
Theoretical Perspective ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Mass Violence ◽  
Bearing Witness ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Adverse Experiences ◽  
The Face ◽  
War Crimes Tribunals ◽  
The Impact

Intersections exist regarding how institutions and individuals respond in the wake of mass violence, and we explore one theoretical perspective: resilience—the ability to overcome in the face of adversity. By controlling for the institutional context, we analyze the microlevel impact of testifying on witnesses who testify. New survey data provide information from 300 prosecution, defence, and Chambers witnesses who appeared at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. We test propositions about resilience related to trauma, motivations, contributions to justice, fair treatment, witness fatigue, and human security. Witnesses who experienced greater trauma, who were more highly motivated, who believed they contributed to justice, and who were satisfied with their current situation were more positive about testifying. Those who believed they were treated fairly by prosecution and defence were less negative. The findings add to the debate about the burden of bearing witness in post-conflict societies and why some overcome adverse experiences related to mass violence.

II. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: The Erdemović Case

1998 ◽  
Vol 47 (2) ◽  
pp. 461-474 ◽  
Author(s):  
Colin Warbrick ◽  
Dominic McGoldrick ◽  
David Turns
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Trial Chamber ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Political Leader ◽  
Military Commander ◽  
The Face ◽  
International War ◽  
A Minor ◽  
War Crimes Tribunals

On 29 November 1996 Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (“the ICTY”) handed down its sentence in the case of Dražen Erdemović. This was a decision of historie significance for a variety of reasons, the most obvious being that it was the first sentence passed by an international war crimes tribunals, applying international law, since the International Military Tribunals which sat at Nuremberg and Tokyo between 1945 and 1948; it was also the first time a truly international tribunal bas concluded the trial of a minor war criminal, as opposed to a senior military commander or political leader. In addition, it was the first sentence handed down by the ICTY, which has been plagued sincc its first days of operation by problems in securing evidence and witnesses, not to mention the presence of the accused. Now the ICTY has shown, in the face of widespread criticism and accusations of impotence, that it can actually perform the task assigned to it. The doubt about such a judgment is that the Erdemović case is not perhaps the best basis on which to assess the ICTY's performance, so singular were the accused's conduct and, indeed, the circumstances in which he found himself before the Tribunal. Essentially, had it not been for the accused's voluntary surrender and his extensive co-operation with the Office of the Prosecutor, and the co-operation of the judirial authorities in the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (Serbia and Montenegro) in transferring Erdemović to The Hague, the case would probably never have happened at all.

scholarly journals The impact of certain aspects of international criminal justice upon interdependent processes of democratization and reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina

2021 ◽  
pp. 6-21
Author(s):  
Marina Draganovna Maier
Keyword(s):  
Criminal Justice ◽  
Bosnia And Herzegovina ◽  
Quantitative Research ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Justice ◽  
International Criminal Justice ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Reconciliation Process

It is difficult to assess the processes of democratization and reconciliation in post-conflict societies. The factors that affect reconciliation are yet to be fully determine in the academic literature. It is also unclear to what extent each element may promote or obstruct the reconciliation process. The author explores the interrelation and interdependence of the concepts of democratization and reconciliation on the example of the post-conflict region of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and focuses on the impact of international criminal justice upon the processes of democratization and reconciliation. The article covers the current political situation in Bosnia and Herzegovina, as well as assesses the performance of the institutions of international justice, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The author believes that the literature missed so factors that may contribute to reconciliation. An assumption is made that released prisoners may influence the reconciliation process, and this should be viewed as a separate and crucial sub-factor of the consequences of international criminal justice. The author recommends to use all available information and carry out quantitative research in the affected region, assessing public opinion with application of a more nuanced approach towards differentiation of the aspects of international criminal justice. Analysis is conducted on the limited impact of international justice upon the reconciliation process. A hypothesis is advances on interrelation between the aforementioned sub-factor and the processes of reconciliation and democratization.

Promises of Peace and Reconciliation: Previewing the Legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2006 ◽  
Vol 14 (4) ◽  
pp. 485-498 ◽  
Author(s):  
ROSEMARY BYRNE
Keyword(s):  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
World Order ◽  
War Crimes ◽  
International Justice ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The Impact ◽  
Peace And Reconciliation

Predictions of the legacies of the ad hoc International Criminal Tribunals reflect far greater expectations for the impact of justice than earlier historical war crimes prosecutions. The most ambitious of these is the promise of peace and reconciliation. Its formal inclusion in the Security Council's mandate for the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda converged with a modern discourse on war crimes prosecutions that infuses the ideals of Nuremberg with the revolutionary aspirations of the human rights movement in a new world order. Contemporary trends invest international justice with powerful assumptions about its capacity to transform post-conflict societies, as is reflected in the Tribunal's own presentation of its role for the future of Rwanda. Alongside the general assumptions regarding the political powers of international justice, are contesting perspectives that make specific allegations of the effects of its failings. Neither rigorously address causality, highlighting the absence of empirical research on international prosecutions and their impact on national communities. It is argued that ambitious expectations have generated ambiguous-and unrealistic- benchmarks for effectively assessing the record of a nascent international justice system. Viable benchmarks are necessary to ground external expectations, and to strengthen and focus institutional performance. To achieve this, expectations should adjust to the modest realities of delivering international justice.

Transitional Justice, Truth and Reconciliation: An Under-Explored Relationship

2011 ◽  
Vol 11 (2) ◽  
pp. 241-261 ◽  
Author(s):  
Janine Natalya Clark
Keyword(s):  
Empirical Research ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Evidence Based ◽  
Criminal Trials ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation Commissions ◽  
Conflict Reconciliation

AbstractMuch of the literature on transitional justice suffers from a critical impact gap, which scholars are only now beginning to address. One particular manifestation of this aforementioned gap, and one which forms the particular focus of this article, is the frequently-cited yet empirically under-researched claim that "truth" fosters post-conflict reconciliation. Theoretically and empirically critiquing this argument, this article both questions the comprehensiveness of truth established through criminal trials and truth and reconciliation commissions (TRCs) and underscores the often overlooked problem of denial, thus raising fundamental questions about the reputed healing properties of truth in such contexts. Advocating the case for evidence-based transitional justice, it reflects upon empirical research on South Africa's TRC and the author's own work on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

scholarly journals Ending Impunity: The Case for War Crimes Trials in Liberia

2005 ◽  
Vol 1 (2) ◽  
pp. 53-80 ◽  
Author(s):  
Alhagi Marong ◽  
Chernor Jalloh
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Due Process ◽  
Ad Hoc ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Charles Taylor ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Human Rights Law ◽  
Sierra Leonean ◽  
Post Conflict

AbstractThis article argues that Liberia owes a duty under both international humanitarian and human rights law to investigate and prosecute the heinous crimes, including torture, rape and extra-judicial killings of innocent civilians, committed in that country by the warring parties in the course of fourteen years of brutal conflict. Assuming that Liberia owes a duty to punish the grave crimes committed on its territory, the article then evaluates the options for prosecution, starting with the possible use of Liberian courts. The authors argue that Liberian courts are unable, even if willing, to render credible justice that protects the due process rights of the accused given the collapse of legal institutions and the paucity of financial, human and material resources in post-conflict Liberia. The authors then examine the possibility of using international accountability mechanisms, including the International Criminal Court, an ad hoc international criminal tribunal as well as a hybrid court for Liberia. For various legal and political reasons, the authors conclude that all of these options are not viable. As an alternative, they suggest that because the Special Court for Sierra Leone has already started the accountability process for Liberia with the indictment of Charles Taylor in 2003, and given the close links between the Liberian and Sierra Leonean conflicts, the Special Court would be a more appropriate forum for international prosecutions of those who perpetrated gross humanitarian and human rights law violations in Liberia.

scholarly journals Truth and reconciliation: Yes, please! No, thank you!

Temida ◽  
2002 ◽  
Vol 5 (4) ◽  
pp. 19-21 ◽  
Author(s):  
Vesna Kesic
Keyword(s):  
South Africa ◽  
Latin America ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
The Other ◽  
International Conflicts ◽  
Truth And Reconciliation ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
The World ◽  
The Hague

The case of former Yugoslavia and its successors is specific and a bit different from the other post-conflict societies. First, retributive model of justice is carried out, or it should be carried out, before the International Criminal Tribunal in the Hague. The question is how to start the process of searching for the truth and reconciliation inside and between societies, groups and individuals in newly established countries. There is no such a model in the world, like these in South Africa and some countries in Latin America, which can be applied here, because in this case we are talking about five states, from which at least three were in the war. Also, the character of these conflicts covers the diapason from international conflicts to internal aggression and civil war.

scholarly journals Review of Some Procedural Witness Protective Measures at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia

2017 ◽  
Vol 13 (34) ◽  
pp. 251
Author(s):  
Romina Beqiri
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Fair Trial ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Protective Measures ◽  
Balkan Region ◽  
The Right ◽  
The Impact

Given the spread terror and the abuses perpetrated in the Balkan region, many victims and witnesses of atrocities were deterred from testifying. The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY or Tribunal) facilitated the appearance of witnesses and protected them in case of intimidation including by taking measures against those who would violate the confidentiality of the proceedings. This article aims to introduce some of the witness protective measures before the Tribunal, and particularly threats and risks they have faced in the context of the cases dealt with by the Tribunal. It reflects also upon groundbreaking measures of protection decided by the Tribunal and the challenges it has faced over the last two decades. It finally discusses the impact of such challenges on the right to a fair trial and how they were addressed.

Translating and Interpreting at the ICTY

2020 ◽  
pp. 337-354
Author(s):  
Ellen Elias-Bursać
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Evidence Translation ◽  
To Come ◽  
The Impact

Procedures developed at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in response to issues concerning evidence translation and testimony interpretation have provided international criminal courts and tribunals with expertise and insight. These will shape the profession for decades to come. As to the impact on jurisprudence, the Conference and Language Service Section (CLSS), being part of Registry, played a key—often underestimated—role in ensuring the equality of arms between the parties. In a larger sense, the provisional nature of translated texts and interpreted testimony encourages challenges and disputes, and these discussions move the proceedings to a greater understanding; precisely because the obstacles presented by dealing with other languages and cultures force everyone in the courtroom to pay more attention to communication and meaning. It is this constant querying of what everyone thought they did or did not understand that takes these complex trials to completion and comprehension.

The Security Consequences of Bearing Witness

2019 ◽  
Vol 64 (5) ◽  
pp. 933-957
Author(s):  
James Meernik ◽  
Kimi King
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Alternative Explanation ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Human Security ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Security Threats ◽  
Exposure Risk ◽  
Bearing Witness ◽  
Selective Targeting

It is a central assumption of our research that threats to a fragile security and violence can continue during postconflict peacebuilding and that these threats are driven by many of the same sociopolitical dynamics that initially led to war. We examine a critical but much less queried area of postwar societal instability—violence directed at segments of the population who may still be targets for those seeking dominance. Using a survey of 300 individuals who testified before the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY), we seek to explain violence, threats of violence, and other forms of intimidation directed at those who witnessed human rights violations during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Our theory of postwar violence emphasizes the vulnerability of the (potential) victims of postwar violence. We argue that victims are selectively chosen because of their vulnerability. We develop and test an alternative explanation for this selective targeting that emphasizes the level of exposure an individual may have because of testifying at the ICTY. The results demonstrate quite convincingly, however, that it is vulnerability rather than exposure risk that predicts who is most likely to be targeted with human security threats.

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