Punishing International Crimes at International Criminal Courts and Tribunals

According to the World Health Organisation, during the 20th century, an estimated 191 million people lost their lives because of collective violence. International crimes, such as war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, are a form of collective, systematic violence, usually perpetrated within periods of power struggles, armed conflicts, or state repressions. International crimes are political and ideological. They entail widespread mortality and victimisation, extensive destruction, as well as long-lasting societal trauma that may take generations to heal. How to deal with perpetrators of such international mass atrocity crimes? How to satisfy their victims? How to rebuild shattered societies?

In this lecture, Barbora will take stock of international criminal justice in the past two decades. She will discuss how the various international courts and tribunals have punished perpetrators of international crimes. What have their goals been, what crimes have they dealt with, who have they tried, and with what effects? To what extent has international punishment of a select number of perpetrators satisfied victims and affected communities? Has justice been done, and seen to be done? Answering these questions might give us a sober overview of the limits, restraints and complexities of the international criminal justice system. International criminal courts and tribunals have set ambitious goals, promised to end impunity for international crimes, satisfy victims and raised high expectations.

Complex international crimes, however, have led to complex trials, which have been selective, often excessively long, conducted in challenging political environments and detached from victim communities. By comparing aspirations of international criminal justice to its realities and contrasting its achievements and challenges, what lessons can we draw and what is the future of international criminal justice?