ICTY

International Criminal Tribunals (ICTs) were created following the mass massacres which were committed in former Yugoslavia then in Rwanda : the ICTY in 1993 and the ICTR in 1994.

The ICTY was created by two resolutions of the UN Security Council (resolution 808 on 22/02/1993 and resolution 827 on 25/05/1993). Its mission is to establish the truth concerning the hierarchical chains of responsibility with respect to the crimes committed, to judge the potentially guilty persons, and to bring justice to the victims. Whereas the International Court of Justice judges States, the ICT judges individuals. Slobodan Milosevic was the first head of state to appear in The Hague from July 2001 until March 2006 (when he died in prison) ; Radovan Karadzic, former self-proclaimed President of Republika Srpska (Serb part of Bosnia-Herzegovina), who was arrested in August 2007 will be next. The ICTY will close in 2010.

Its creation was an indisputable step forward and a necessary condition to rebuild lasting peace.

However in her book Peace and Punishment, Florence Hartmann shows this necessary justice was hindered for political issues.