This week, the International Justice Tribune will focus on international justice from the victims’ perspective. As former UN Chief Prosecutor, Justice Richard Goldstone told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, “the customers of any justice system are the victims. They’re the people who have suffered, who call for justice and who are entitled to justice.”

An important reason for pursuing justice, Goldstone says, “is to give an official, credible platform to victims, to tell their stories and get a public acknowledgement of what happened. And frequently, in my experience, that can begin the healing process. It can aid peace because it removes cause for revenge”.

The same can be said, to varying degrees, about the Thomas Lubanga trial, the trial of alleged Nazi camp guard John Demjanjuk, the ESMA trial in Argentina, and even the documentation of the Khmer Rouge era in Cambodian text books - all of which are discussed in this week’s issue.

But, Goldstone warns, people sometimes expect too much from the justice system. “It’s just one of the tools,” he acknowledges. “There are others. But it’s certainly better than the old way of simply forgetting the past and allowing hatred and revenge to bubble up. Forgetting about the past is a recipe for disaster.”