The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is scheduled to close at the end of February 2014 and its president, Patrick Robinson, is starting to lay the foundations for the tribunal’s legacy. Judge Robinson spoke to the IJT about what he is doing to preserve the legacy of the court.

By Thijs Bouwknegt

Why is it important to discuss the legacy of the tribunal already?
The legacy of the tribunal relates firstly to what it has done within the region – in the countries of the former Yugoslavia and secondly the contribution it has made at a global level to procedural and substantive international criminal law.The conference that recently concluded dealt with the tribunal’s regional legacy and it is expected that another conference in 2011 will be devoted to the tribunal’s global legacy.

As to the tribunal’s regional legacy, it was timely to consider it at this stage because it had become necessary to assess the tribunal’s capacity building efforts in the region following the specific instructions of the Security Council in 2003 for the tribunal to provide assistance to the courts in the region, and the processing of war crimes trials.

The tribunal is now only about three years from the end of its work and it was therefore vital to carry out an assessment of its capacity building efforts in the region, to hear from regional stakeholders of the strengths and weaknesses of the programme so that the tribunal may be in a position to make adjustments and to ensure the effectiveness of its efforts.

What do you hope the legacy of the tribunal will encompass?
As far as victims and survivors are concerned, the best hope must be that they will feel that through the tribunal they received justice. As far as the region is concerned, the most important aspect of the tribunal’s legacy is national ownership of the justice system relating to war crimes trials. They must feel that through the capacity-building efforts of the tribunal and the example the tribunal has set in its trials, they will be in a position to continue its work in their national systems and to that end, contribute to the end of impunity.

As far as the world is concerned, the global legacy of the ICTY consists of very significant innovations made by the tribunal at the procedural level in devising measures for expediting war crimes trials without prejudicing the rights of the accused.

At the substantive level every country will benefit from the surplus of law built by the tribunal in the wide range of trials covering war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide. The advances made by the tribunal at both the procedural and the substantive level far outweigh the achievements of Nuremburg and Tokyo.

So far, what has been the most important achievement of the ICTY?
The most important achievement of the ICTY is that it has shown that it is possible to try persons even at the very highest level for breaches of international humanitarian law and to that end it has struck a nail in the coffin of impunity

What can other institutions do to help create a legacy for the court?
They can best support its legacy by supporting themselves the work of the courts in the region whose task it will be to continue the tribunal’s work. They can do so by ensuring that the domestic courts are fully capable of carrying out trials fairly. Therefore, whatever assistance those courts need, whether it be in terms of funding for judges or the most up to date equipment, this assistance should be provided to them.

What about establishing a truth commission in the Balkans?
In my view, a truth commission would complement the judicial work of the tribunal. Truth-telling and fact-finding will promote reconciliation. But in the establishment of any truth commission, national ownership will be crucial. A truth commission and regional trials are equally important because they complement each other.

What will happen to the ICTY archives?
The archives are of great significance to the region because they tell a story that is personal and specific. It is important that the archives are accessible to everybody in the region but the decision on the location of the archives is one for the Security Council to make.

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