International Criminal Tribunals

In the latter part of the 20th century, the international community witnessed the creation of ad hoc international criminal tribunals in response to some of the worst atrocities committed after World War II. Drawing from the legacy of the Nuremburg Trials and the need to end impunity and ensure justice, leading international law figures, the U.N., and key countries including the U.S. pushed for a criminal tribunal to try Slobodan Milosevic and other Yugoslavian officials responsible for committing genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes during the Balkan war. As a result, the U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in May 1993.

In November of the following year, prompted by international outcry over the mass killings in Rwanda, the U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Soon war criminals everywhere had reason to be afraid. In 2002, the Security Council acted again and approved the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL), giving the Court the power to try individuals accused of the most serious crimes committed during the country’s ten year civil war. And in 2003, after several years of deliberations, the government of Cambodia and the U.N. agreed to create the Khmer Rouge Tribunal (KRT) to try surviving Khmer Rouge leaders for crimes committed between 1975 and 1979 against the Cambodian people.

+ Developments from ICTY
+ Developments from ICTR
+ Developments from KRT

UN Security Council Discusses the Work of the Special Court for Sierra Leone
May 24, 2005 -- The President of the Special Court for Sierra Leone, Emmanuel Olayinka Ayoola, briefed the UN Security Council on the activities of the Court and addressed issues of imminent concern.
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Communications Strategies for International Justice Institutions: The Third Vancouver Dialogue

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