Memory at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

2015 ◽  
Vol 30 (2) ◽  
pp. 270-287
Author(s):  
Kristen Perrin
Keyword(s):  
Social Psychology ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Cognitive Linguistics ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Narrative Control ◽  
The Individual ◽  
The Relationship

Scrutiny of the legal elements of international criminal tribunals such as the ICTY are frequent and important, but this article suggests that new avenues need to be taken in order to truly understand what is taking place within the courtroom sociologically. Embedded within courtroom interactions are symbolic exchanges that can stand as both reflections of and implications for the success or failure of transitional justice as a tool to promote community understanding post-conflict. Using a mixture of social psychology and cognitive linguistics, this article examines the significance of in-court references to memory, theorising that the concepts of remembering and forgetting as discussed in transcripts reveal greater struggles between the witnesses and the court over narrative control. This ultimately raises questions about the nature of the relationship between international legal bodies and the individual victim-witness, and demonstrates that there are failings occurring here that could make processes of reconciliation and community healing more difficult.

scholarly journals Local Uses of International Criminal Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina: Transcending Divisions or Building Parallel Worlds?

2013 ◽  
Vol 7 (2) ◽  
pp. 245-263 ◽  
Author(s):  
Dejan Guzina ◽  
Branka Marijan
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Limited Success ◽  
Fertile Ground ◽  
Context Specific ◽  
The Relationship

Transitionaljustice mechanisms and the International Criminal Tribunal for the FormerYugoslavia (ICTY) have had only a limited success in overcoming ethnic divisionsin Bosnia-Herzegovina. Rather than elaborating upon the role of local politicalelites in perpetuating ethnic divisions, we examine ordinary peoples’ popularperceptions of war and its aftermath. In our view, the idea that elites havecomplete control over the broader narratives about the past is misplaced. Weargue that transitional justice and peace mechanisms supported by externalactors are always interpreted on the ground in context-specific ways, creatingdifferent citizens’ experiences, “memories” of the war, and their respectivehopes and disappointments in regards to the relationship between peace andjustice in Bosnia. We suggest that analyses of the post-conflict developments inBosnia-Herzegovina must take into account what gives the narratives ofexclusion their power, and what are the objective political, social andeconomic constraints that continue to provide a fertile ground for theirwidespread support.

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).

International Criminal Tribunals and Cooperation with States

2018 ◽  
Author(s):  
Geoffrey Nice ◽  
Nevenka Tromp
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Armed Forces ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Recent Experience ◽  
Political Elites ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Commander In Chief ◽  
Conflict Narratives

This chapter examines the cooperation between Serbia and the International Criminal tribunal for Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) though reconstruction of how the OTP obtained records of the Supreme Defence Council (SDC), a collective Commander-in-Chief of the Yugoslav Army (VJ: Vojska Jugoslavije) from 1992 to 2003. Recent experience in the former Yugoslavia, in particular with Serbia, shows that the leading political elites will rarely be open and will do everything possible to control and limit post-conflict narratives. This proposition will be illustrated by analysing the way the de facto and de jure powers of Slobodan Milošević as president of Serbia (1990-1998) and of the FRY (1998-2000) would have been revealed through the SDC collection of documents generated by the highest state bodies in charge of commanding the armed forces during the Croatian, BiH, and Kosovo indictment periods that were incompletely and grudgingly produced by Serbia to the ICTY for its use.

Narratives of Justice and War in Croatia

2020 ◽  
pp. 445-461
Author(s):  
Ivor Sokolić
Keyword(s):  
Human Rights ◽  
Focus Groups ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
War Narrative ◽  
Human Rights Norms ◽  
The Relationship ◽  
Self Defence

This chapter examines the relationship between war and justice narratives in Croatia, based on focus groups, dyads, and interviews conducted in 2014 and 2015. The war narrative is based on a pervasive conception of self-defence against a larger Serbian aggressor. It contrasts with a justice narrative that is focused on the norms of transitional justice and the expressivist effects of trials. The two narratives exist in the same space and interact with each other. This chapter outlines these narratives and analyses their reproduction. It argues that the emotional war narrative’s strength makes it difficult for the justice narrative to take hold and, consequently, for the trickle-down expressivist effects of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and human rights norms to occur. This tolerance for deviance was based on notions of legality that were defined differently in relation to Croats and Serbs.

scholarly journals The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia: The Promise and Reality of Reconciliation in Croatia

2009 ◽  
Author(s):  
Sara Parker
Keyword(s):  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Large Scale ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
Local Level ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
International Community ◽  
Former Yugoslavia ◽  
Truth Commissions ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
State And Local

The international community is increasingly interested in promoting post-conflict reconciliation in a variety of forms, with trials and truth commissions featured most prominently. The contemporary academic discussion over transitional justice (and the practice of transitional justice itself) is largely focused on whether and how these types of large-scale national transitional justice mechanisms contribute to reconciliation. This article examines the promise and reality of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) to contribute to national reconciliation. Ultimately, the ability of state-wide policies to contribute to reconciliation rests on the active participation of local level actors. This requires political backing at the state and local level beyond that of just the international community. More attention needs to be paid to domestic cultural factors in the initial decision to implement state-wide transitional justice procedures, and bottom-up mechanisms must be built into any large scale approach to reconciliation.

scholarly journals Liberal international criminal law and legal memory: deconstructing the production of witness memories at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda

2021 ◽  
Vol 9s2 ◽  
pp. 127-154
Author(s):  
Benjamin Thorne
Keyword(s):  
Collective Memory ◽  
Criminal Law ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Primary Response ◽  
International Criminal Law ◽  
Giorgio Agamben ◽  
Legal Scholarship ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals

International criminal tribunals and courts, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), are commonly understood within legal transitional justice scholarship as the primary response to mass human rights violations, not only in addressing impunity, but also in uncovering the truth of what happened and why. This conceptually orientated article aims to deconstruct legal witnessing and memory production at the ICTR in order to critique claims in legal scholarship that international criminal institutions are able to produce a collective memory of mass rights violations. Specifically, the article proposes an original conceptual framework using insights from critical theory, Giorgio Agamben (witness) and Paul Ricoeur (memory), which it is argued extends our understanding of the scope, and limitations, of liberal Western criminal institutions� (in)ability to make sense of past atrocities.

scholarly journals Restoring justice in Serbia: Reconciliation and restorative justice in a post-war context

Temida ◽  
2010 ◽  
Vol 13 (1) ◽  
pp. 23-41 ◽  
Author(s):  
Stephan Parmentier ◽  
Marta Valiñas ◽  
Elmar Weitekamp
Keyword(s):  
Restorative Justice ◽  
Transitional Justice ◽  
Research Team ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Population Based ◽  
The Past ◽  
Post Conflict ◽  
Post War ◽  
Political Economic

The debate on how to deal with the past in Serbia is an ongoing one. Both the International Criminal Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia and national criminal justice mechanisms have played an important role in prosecuting offenders. Other transitional justice approaches continue to be discussed. All in all, the Yugoslav and the Serbian cases are similar to other debates about 'dealing with the past' or 'transitional justice', as they are taking place between elites, political, economic, and within civil society, both in the country concerned and at the international level. Likewise the views and expectations of the local populations in any given country are very rarely taken into account. In this paper findings of a population-based research carried out by our research team in Serbia in 2007 are presented. The research was done by means of a quantitative survey across the country on several issues of post-conflict justice, including truth seeking, accountability, reparation for victims and reconciliation.

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.

Judicial Lawmaking, Discourse Theory, and the ICTY on Belligerent Reprisals

2011 ◽  
Vol 12 (5) ◽  
pp. 1261-1278 ◽  
Author(s):  
Milan Kuhli ◽  
Klaus Günther
Keyword(s):  
International Criminal Court ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Individual Case ◽  
Criminal Court ◽  
Discourse Theory ◽  
Criminal Courts ◽  
Normative Expectations ◽  
Judicial Lawmaking ◽  
The Individual

Without presenting a full definition, it can be said that the notion of judicial lawmaking implies the idea that courts create normative expectations beyond the individual case. That is, our question is whether courts' normative declarations have an effect which is abstract and general. Our purpose here is to ask about judicial lawmaking in this sense with respect to international criminal courts and tribunals. In particular, we will focus on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). No other international criminal court or tribunal has issued so many judgments as the ICTY, so it seems a particularly useful focus for examining the creation of normative expectations.

Improving the Operation and Functioning of the International Criminal Tribunals

2000 ◽  
Vol 94 (4) ◽  
pp. 759-773 ◽  
Author(s):  
Daryl A. Mundis
Keyword(s):  
United Nations ◽  
International Criminal ◽  
International Criminal Tribunal ◽  
Secretary General ◽  
General Assembly ◽  
Expert Group ◽  
International Criminal Tribunals ◽  
International Tribunals ◽  
The United Nations

Since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, both International Tribunals have grown tremendously in terms of resources. Despite this growth, the International Tribunals have rendered judgments in only fifteen cases and conducted inordinately long trials—a fault for which, perhaps more than any other, they can be justly criticized. The Secretary- General of the United Nations recently appointed an expert group to review the efficiency of the operation of the International Tribunals and make recommendations for improvement. Following the release of the group's report, the General Assembly requested that the Secretary-General obtain comments from the International Tribunals on the experts’ recommendations. The ICTYjudges, for their part, considered these recommendations in a report to the United Nations setting forth a long-term strategy for improving the operation of the Tribunal.

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