Ontologies of International Humanitarian and Criminal Law: ‘Locals’ and ‘Internationals’ in Discourses and Practices of Justice

Abstract

This chapter looks at constructions of the ‘local’ and the ‘international’ actors of war violence and justice within the contemporary hegemonic discourses and practices of international humanitarian and criminal law, following two lines of investigation: utilization of gendered and racialized discourses that link war, sexual violence and justice; and the absence of powerful states and political-military leaders from the lists of accused for war crimes, including the crimes of sexual violence. I argue that those constructions are part of a shift in thinking about war, violence and justice that occurred in the past two and a half decades, or more precisely, with the wars in former Yugoslavia and the genocide in Rwanda. Further, that they support ontological distinctions between the ‘community of interveners’, on the one hand, and the victims and perpetrators of violence, on the other.