The Role of Justice in Reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina
Course Participant: Maruša Rosulnik (Ljubljana, August 2008)
Introduction
An end of a conflict is a beginning of a new path leading to peace and reconciliation. One of the means employed on the road to reconciling a post-conflict society is justice. Can a judicial mechanism indeed bring peace and reconciliation? According to the United Nations Resolution on Impunity[1], a judicial body's goal of ending impunity aspires to bring justice, find truth, promote accountability and deter the commission of crimes, obtain remedy and restore dignity of victims, establish historical record, promote reconciliation and establish peace and stability in a society. Based upon this conceptual link between justice and peace, in 1993 the United Nations Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY or Tribunal) aiming to restore and maintain peace by persecuting perpetrators. Even though not explicitly stated in the ICTY Statue, the task of maintaining peace entailed the aim of promoting reconciliation in Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH). Has the Tribunal succeeded in fostering reconciliation in the post-conflict BiH?
