UN Special Tribunals

Authority

• Try heads of state for crimes against humanity

4 aims of the UN tribunals

1. Retribution

2. Develop liberal principle of global community that won’t tolerate NS’ deliberate HR abuses

3. Establish legal principle that heads of state can be tried

4. Publicise extent and horror of such crimes to prevent repetition

Success - Yugoslavia

• Bought to justice thousands of victims and publicised the atrocities

• Convicted and sentenced 90 war criminals

• 2019: Karadžic’s appeal cased his sentence 40y → life

Success — 🇰🇭

• Punished guilty parties, incl 3 life sentences

• Encouraged youth to understand their history

• Offered internships to lawyers for them to expand their knowledge of IL and genocide

Success - 🇷🇼

• Convicted 61 people including first heads of gov’t

• Established precedents of rape and media as a tool of genocide

Success - 🇸🇱

• Conicted first heads of state + 14 others

4 weaknesses of tribunals

1. Victor’s justice

2. Western neocolonialism

3. Saddam Hussein

4. 🇷🇺

🇷🇺

• Vetoed UN tribunal into 🇲🇾 plan incident

  • Felt it wouldn’t serve its own interests

Saddam Hussein

• 🇺🇸 declared he would be tried in 🇮🇶 so he’d be liable to the death penalty, not by an international court

Western neocolonialism

• Liberia - Charles Taylor

  • Tried in Hague

  • Imprisoned in 🇬🇧

  • Tribunal funded by W.

• Reinforced idea that Africa cannot deliver justice itself

Victor’s justice

• Only tries the losing side

  • Nuremberg Tribunal yet what about British bombing of Dresden?

  • Tokyo tribunal yet what about 🇺🇸 bombing of Hiroshima and Nagasaki?

  • Tutsi Rwandan Patriotic Front not tried for its actions

  • NATO never been tried for its actions in 🇷🇸