The Legacy of the ICTY: The Three-tiered Approach to Justice in Bosnia-Herzegovina and Benchmarks for Measuring Success

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has made significant contributions to justice, peace, and security, and creating an historical record about the violence that victimized hundreds of thousands of people during the 1990s. Yet, it has also given us a robust model for adjudicating large-scale atrocity crimes through its three-tiered approach to justice. This chapter focuses on Bosnia and Herzegovina where the ICTY’s impact on local proceedings was most significant and analyses the ways in which the Tribunal provided a roadmap for similar contexts in the future. By examining benchmarks for success, Trahan and Vukušić outline how success can be understood, measured, and increased in these complex contexts where there is a great need for justice but limited resources. They also examine how positive outcomes can be supported through case prioritization, clear communication, the setting of realistic expectations, and cooperation with other jurisdictions.
In evaluating this 3-tiered approach, however, one is reminded of the importance of setting reasonable expectations for what tribunals can accomplish. Despite the ICTY’s noteworthy achievements, not every case will be tried, and there is still denial or partial denial of crimes, and it is unrealistic to think that tribunals can create reconciliation—although their work can set the indispensable foundation upon which it may be built.

This chapter examines the accomplishments of the 3-tiers of justice, the benchmarks by which to measure this work, and evaluates the extent to which the ICTY (complemented by local courts) has met those benchmarks. It simultaneously acknowledges that goals such as reconciliation and the acceptance of one shared historical narrative must be left to locally-owned initiatives, and the eventual transformation of the political scene through a new generation of leadership. The chapter concludes that the ICTY has in many ways been our most successful tribunal to date, and is therefore a model for the future.