Never Again: Questioning the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals
![handle is hein.journals/tclj11 and id is 173 raw text is: NEVER AGAIN: QUESTIONING THE YUGOSLAV AND
RWANDA TRIBUNALS
Makau Mutua*
I. INTRODUCTION
Fifty years after Nuremberg, the international community has again de-
cided to experiment with international war crimes tribunals.' The first such
panels were the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals constituted after World War
II to try suspected war criminals.2 The stated purposes for the establishment
* Associate Professor of Law, State University of New York at Buffalo Law School; Direc-
tor, Human Rights Center at SUNY Buffalo; S. J. D., (1987), Harvard Law School; LL M.,
(1985), Harvard Law School. The author acknowledges the support of the Baldy Center for Law
and Social Policy at SUNY Buffalo and the research assistance of D. Christopher Decker.
1. In 1993 the Security Council of the United Nations established on an ad hoc basis the
International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of In-
ternational Humanitarian Law in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia Since 1991 [hereinafter
Yugoslav Tribunal]. See S.C. Res. 808, U.N. SCOR, 3175th mtg. U.N. Doc. SIRES/808 (1993)
[hereinafter S.C. 8081; S.C. Res. 827, U.N. SCOR, 3217 mtg. U.N. SIRES/827 (1993) [hereinafter
S.C. 827]; United Nations Secretary General, Report of the Secretary General Pursuant to Para-
graph 2 of the Security Council Resolution 808, U.N. Doc. S/25704, Annex (1993) (containing text
of the statute of the Yugoslav Tribunal) [hereinafter Resolution 808 Report]; United Nations Sec-
retary General, Report on Aspects of Establishing an International Tribunal for the Prosecution
of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in
the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia, 32 I.L.M. 1159 (1993) [hereinafter International Tribunal
Aspects Report]. For an exhaustive analysis and documentation of the Yugoslav Tribunal, see
THE LAW OF THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA (M.
Cherif Bassiouni & Peter Manikas, eds. 1996). In the case of Rwanda, the Security Council of
the United Nations established on November 8, 1994, the International Tribunal for the Prosecu-
tion of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Human-
itarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for
Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighboring States, Be-
tween 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994 [hereinafter Rwanda Tribunal]. See United Na-
tions Security Council, Report of the Secretary General Pursuant to Paragraph 5 of Security
Council Resolution 955, U.N. Doc. S/1995/134 (1994) [hereinafter Resolution 955 Report]. See
also Lyal S. Sunga, The Commission of Experts on Rwanda and the Creation of the International
Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. A Note, 16 HUM. RTS. L J. 121 (1995). See Paul C. Szarz, The
Proposed War Crimes Tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia, 25 NYU J. INT'L L. & POL. 405 (1993).
2. The International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg (hereinafter Nuremberg Tribunal) was
established in 1945 by the Prosecution and Punishment of Major War Criminals of the European
Axis (otherwise known as the London Agreement, which resulted from conferences held among
the United States, Britain, France, and the Soviet Union to determine what policies the victori-
ous allies should pursue against the vanquished Germans, Italians, and their surrogates).
London Agreement, August 8, 1945, 82 U.N.T.S. 279, 59 Stat. 1544; Annex to the Prosecution
and Punishment of Major War Criminals of the European Axis (London Charter), August 8,
1945, 82 U.N.T.S. 279, 59 Stat. 1544. The International Military Tribunal for the Far East at
Tokyo [hereinafter Tokyo Tribunal] was established in 1946 by the Charter of the International
Military Tribunal for the Far East at Tokyo, Special Proclamation by the Supreme Commander
for the Allied Powers at Tokyo, T.I.A.S. No. 1589, reprinted in 4 TREATIES AND OTHER INTER-](ViewImageLocal?handle=hein.journals/tclj11&div=13&collection=&method=preview&ext=.png&size=3)
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Never Again: Questioning the Yugoslav and Rwanda Tribunals
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