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14 New Eng. J. Int'l & Comp. L. 299 (2007-2008)
Lessons for Outreach from the Ad Hoc Tribunals, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the International Criminal Court

handle is hein.journals/newenjic14 and id is 307 raw text is: LESSONS FOR OUTREACH FROM THE AD
Hoc TRIBUNALS, THE SPECIAL COURT FOR
SIERRA LEONE, AND THE INTERNATIONAL
CRIMINAL COURT
SARA DAREHSHORI*
INTRODUCTION
The International Justice Program at Human Rights Watch has
recognized the great importance of outreach and has strongly advocated
vigorous outreach efforts in order for the international courts to have a
positive impact on the populations directly affected by the crimes
investigated and tried. Indeed, there has been increasing recognition by
diplomats and court officials that outreach, rather than being auxiliary, is a
key component of international criminal justice.
I. THE ICTR
I joined the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in September 1995 as a young lawyer full of
optimism about the potential for the tribunal to end the cycle of violence in
Rwanda by revealing what happened during the genocide and by attributing
responsibility to the individuals most responsible for the crimes committed.
It was my hope that the ICTR would make an important contribution to
reconciliation in Rwanda by eradicating collective attribution of guilt to an
entire ethnic group. I left the tribunal two years later somewhat more
cynical about what reconciliatory impact the ICTR would have in Rwanda.
Although I did not have a name for the source of my disillusionment at the
time, it essentially came down to one word: outreach-or lack thereof.
To be fair, I was at the tribunal in the very beginning of its operations.
When I first reported for duty in Kigali, Rwanda, the only persons present
*    Senior Counsel, International Justice Program, Human Rights Watch.

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