War Crimes and the Culture of Peace

Abstract

Louise ArbourToronto: University of Toronto Press, 2002. xiv, 66pp, $9.95 paper (ISBN 0-8020-8495-8)Legal procedures are never neutral. Rather, they are always embedded in and constitutive of a larger legal philosophy. War Crimes and Culture of Peace argues that international criminal trial must adopt a procedural framework that promotes international criminal law's unique philosophic mission of nurturing a culture of between peoples who regard themselves as enemies.This book consists primarily of a speech Louise Arbour delivered in 2001 while sitting as a judge on Supreme Court and after her appointment as first chief prosecutor of international criminal tribunals for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and for Rwanda (ICTR). Recently, Arbour announced her return to international stage as United Nations high commissioner for human rights. This text is of interest in part because it demonstrates Arbour's willingness to question fundamental tenets of legal theory and practice in her steadfast resolve to see justice done.Drawing on her ICTY and ICTR experiences, Arbour develops an ambitious vision for international criminal trial generally. She begins with intriguing claim that often whole populations either actively perpetrate war crimes or support leaders who do. Thus, holding leaders accountable to international norms does not necessarily vindicate whole populations or clear path to peace. Pronouncing on individual guilt is not enough. The dramatic setting of a trial should be used to give victims and perpetrators of war crimes opportunity to purge themselves of their brutal past by recognizing historic truths and building a collective memory. Transforming trial into a site of collective memory will promote peace. As Arbour puts it, even more than punishment of perpetrator, it is process itself, from beginning to end, that speaks language of peace (p. 32).The main thesis of War Crimes and Culture of Peace is provocative, but since book is based on a speech and speeches generally do not lend themselves to sustained analysis, readers will yearn for more precision and detail. In particular, this text does not help readers think through difficult questions that arise out of selectivity of international criminal trials. Trials cannot reveal the whole truth since they must produce a verdict on a specific charge within a reasonable period of time. …