Start Date
13-1-2012 9:00 AM
End Date
13-1-2012 10:30 AM
Description
Since the war ended fifteen years ago, war crimes prosecution has been the dominant tool of addressing war crimes committed during the four-year-long conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995). The prosecution has been conducted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the national institutions (Court of BiH, Sarajevo) and the local courts (cantonal and district in Republika Srpska, the Federation of BiH and the Brcko District – all entities established as a result of the Dayton Peace Accords). All these institutions have been criticized by various individuals in different capacities, for different reasons – some of these will be discussed in the proposed paper. The paper will also address the effectiveness of war crimes prosecution in all these institutions as a tool for combating future crimes, taking into account the accomplishments and shortcomings of the effort at all levels – international, national and local. Another important question is if war crimes prosecution can be done in combination with other complementary mechanisms to minimize the potential for future conflicts. The ICTY and the courts in BiH have conducted numerous trials in the past fifteen years; hundreds have been investigated and prosecuted but the question remains, can war crimes prosecutions, when conducted fairly and timely be an investment into the country’s future and if so what can be done to secure proper prosecution in similar situations. In that sense, this paper will be focusing on policy measures and lessons learned from the Bosnian experience. The author spent three years living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, working in war crimes prosecution and therefore, the paper will draw heavily on personal experience as an analyst in the Special War Crimes Department of the Prosecutor’s office in Sarajevo. It will also take into account the more recent experiences from the ICTY in The Hague as well as academic sources on the issue.
War crimes prosecution – lessons learned from Bosnia and Herzegovina
Since the war ended fifteen years ago, war crimes prosecution has been the dominant tool of addressing war crimes committed during the four-year-long conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina (1992-1995). The prosecution has been conducted at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the national institutions (Court of BiH, Sarajevo) and the local courts (cantonal and district in Republika Srpska, the Federation of BiH and the Brcko District – all entities established as a result of the Dayton Peace Accords). All these institutions have been criticized by various individuals in different capacities, for different reasons – some of these will be discussed in the proposed paper. The paper will also address the effectiveness of war crimes prosecution in all these institutions as a tool for combating future crimes, taking into account the accomplishments and shortcomings of the effort at all levels – international, national and local. Another important question is if war crimes prosecution can be done in combination with other complementary mechanisms to minimize the potential for future conflicts. The ICTY and the courts in BiH have conducted numerous trials in the past fifteen years; hundreds have been investigated and prosecuted but the question remains, can war crimes prosecutions, when conducted fairly and timely be an investment into the country’s future and if so what can be done to secure proper prosecution in similar situations. In that sense, this paper will be focusing on policy measures and lessons learned from the Bosnian experience. The author spent three years living in Bosnia and Herzegovina, working in war crimes prosecution and therefore, the paper will draw heavily on personal experience as an analyst in the Special War Crimes Department of the Prosecutor’s office in Sarajevo. It will also take into account the more recent experiences from the ICTY in The Hague as well as academic sources on the issue.