Criticism of the ICTY in the Hague

Marko Attila Hoare's essay (12/24/08) is highly critical of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. He compares the course of its trials to those at Nuremberg following WWII, and concludes that the "difference in aim and organization" between the two insitutions explain why one was far more successful than the other. The ICTY, in his opinion, has proved "toothless" because it sought reconciliation rather than justice. This, in turn, has been the result of the international community's failure to "impose a narrative" assigning blame for the "War of Yugoslav Succession". Ultimately, all sides feel simultaneously victimized and vindicated. "There is a lesson to be learned from the respective experiences of the IMT and ICTY: so far as war-crimes are concerned, there can be no real justice without the real defeat of the perpetrators."