A Partial View of History

Abstract

In practice, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has contributed significantly to the historical narratives of the conflicts in the Balkans. However, history writing as an objective of international criminal proceedings remains a contested issue and ICTY chambers have approached this objective differently. The role of history at the ICTY has fluctuated significantly and has been directly influenced by developments in other areas of the Tribunal’s work. While the histories written by the ICTY have helped promote better understanding of the conflicts, in other cases such histories, particularly those referring to third parties, have had problematic implications for the right to a fair trial. This chapter claims that the relationship between judging and history at the ICTY has been dynamic, contingent, and complex. International criminal tribunals are only able to write ‘judicial truths’; to expect them to write authoritative historical accounts is possibly to overburden them.