Towards Global Justice in the 21st Century?

This research paper examines the evolution of international criminal law in the early 21st century, focusing on the impact of the tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. The author analyzes the subsequent efforts to establish specialized courts in Sierra Leone, Cambodia, and East Timor, while arguing that the proliferation of ad hoc tribunals may promote selective justice and that a permanent International Criminal Court is necessary to end the 'culture of impunity'.

• The International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecutions of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) influenced the creation of the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) via the Rome Statute adopted on 17 July 1998. By January 2001, 139 countries had signed and 29 had ratified the statute.
• The ICTY and ICTR positively influenced domestic courts to enforce international humanitarian law, as seen in the 1998 British House of Lords decision that former Chilean dictator Pinochet was not immune from extradition to Spain, and the February 2000 house arrest of former Chad dictator Hussein Habré by the High Court of Senegal.
• A special court for Sierra Leone was proposed to try Foday Sankoh and others for war crimes and crimes against humanity, with temporal jurisdiction from 30 November 1996. However, as of May 2001, no voluntary funds had been pledged and no prosecuting authorities had been appointed.
• In East Timor, the Transitional Administration in East Timor (UNTAET) established a panel with universal jurisdiction over genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, and torture committed during the armed conflict, consisting of two international judges and one East Timorese judge.
• Cambodia established an Extraordinary Chamber in January 2001 to prosecute senior leaders of Democratic Kampuchea for crimes committed between 17 April 1975 and 6 January 1979. The UN expressed concern that Cambodian legislators removed a provision banning amnesties, potentially protecting former foreign minister Ieng Sary.
• The author argues that ad hoc tribunals are inefficient and may promote 'selective justice', citing the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia's claims that the ICTY was biased against Serbs and failed to prosecute NATO members for the 1999 air-bombing of Kosovo.

APA

Rakate, P. K. (2001). Towards Global Justice in the 21st Century? Institute for Security Studies. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/paper50.pdf

Chicago

Rakate, Phenyo Keiseng. Towards Global Justice in the 21st Century? Institute for Security Studies, 2001. https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/paper50.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |last1=Rakate |first1=Phenyo Keiseng |title=Towards Global Justice in the 21st Century? |publisher=Institute for Security Studies |date=May 2001 |url=https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/paper50.pdf |access-date=17 August 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{rakate2001towards, author = {Rakate, Phenyo Keiseng}, title = {{Towards Global Justice in the 21st Century?}}, institution = {Institute for Security Studies}, year = {2001}, month = may, url = {https://issafrica.s3.amazonaws.com/site/uploads/paper50.pdf}, urldate = {2026-08-17}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }