Transitional justice: the prosecution of war crimes in Bosnia and Herzegovina under the ‘Rules of the Road’

Abstract

In May 1993, at the height of the wars in the former Yugoslavia, the United Nations' Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It did so in response to international outrage at evidence of war crimes being committed with impunity and on a scale unprecedented in Europe since World War II. The Statute empowered the ICTY to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1 January 1991, in accordance with its provisions.The ICTY was established by the Security Council rather than the General Assembly because it was thought that the situation in the former Yugoslavia was too serious to wait for a lengthy ratification process. By characterising the war as a breach of the peace, the Security Council could act immediately under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. Part of the international community's motivation in establishing the Tribunal was to prevent further war crimes being committed in the region, particularly against the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina and Croatia.