This and other comments on how the Hague Tribunal functions are on the Twitter account of the Balkan Conflicts Research Team. It is located at Balkan Conflicts Research Team@ResearchTeam
Their documentary, “The Rogue Tribunal,” may be viewed here.
Where did it all go wrong?
The first and greatest abuse was the UN’s decision to create an international criminal court when it had absolutely no power to do so.
What made it worse?
The UN’s total failure to ensure that the Hague Tribunal complied with the detailed instructions for its operation set down by the Security Council. This allowed the ICTY to create new law, to cast aside objectivity and impartiality, and to abandon all the cardinal principles of international criminal law.
Why didn’t the media pick up on this?
The western media was only interested in developments that supported the fantasy version of events it had itself created. Reports that presented a different picture were ignored or rubbished. It was the beginning of the new age of journalism where editors became more concerned with political correctness than with careful, factual reporting.
Why didn’t the legal world reveal the ICTY’s deficiencies?
Lawyers from many countries who worked in the area of human rights must have become aware of the ICTY’s flaws at an early stage. But nothing of consequence was said or written. As the first UN criminal Tribunal, it should have attracted close scrutiny; in practice, the legal world seems to have been at pains to avoid any such thing.
Surely politicians and officials should have been aware that something was very badly wrong with the ICTY?
They should. Security Council members and their teams were made aware by the UN Secretary-General that neither the Security Council, nor the UN itself, had any power to create a criminal Tribunal under its Charter. There was also ample evidence before them that the ICTY was radically departing from the terms set down for it by the Security Council.
What accounts for this extraordinary negligence on the part of so many people?
The kindest answer would be that they were responding to the spirit of the time. People the world over were horrified by the false stories of brutality in the Bosnian, Croatian and Kosovo wars and called on their leaders for strong action. Politicians and their aides were anxious to be seen to be on the right side. The unkind answer is that they cynically played to the gallery to milk the situation for their own advantage.
Why does all this matter?
Colossal injustice has been done to many Serbs who were convicted by a corrupt court and sentenced to very long terms of imprisonment for crimes that never took place. Huge – and that means really huge – economic damage has been done to Serbia. The UN, far from being a force for good in the world, has been party to a gross deception. The whole concept of international justice has been betrayed.