THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA: AN EXERCISE IN LAW, POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY BY RACHEL KERR (OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004) 239 PAGES. PRICE AUD$180.00 (HARDCOVER). ISBN 0 19 926305 1

Abstract

THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL TRIBUNAL FOR THE FORMER YUGOSLAVIA: AN EXERCISE IN LAW, POLITICS AND DIPLOMACY BY RACHEL KERR (OXFORD: OXFORD UNIVERSITY PRESS, 2004) 239 PAGES. PRICE AUD$180.00 (HARDCOVER). ISBN 0 19 926305 1 

When the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established in 1993, the fabric uniting the Balkans was ripping apart. How could an ad hoc Tribunal, thousands of kilometres from the conflict with no enforcement apparatus, ameliorate the anarchy and destruction sweeping the region? In its early years it languished almost unused, its courtrooms empty. In 2005, as the ICTY moves slowly towards the completion of its mandate, increased international pres- sure has led to a series of surrenders of indicted suspects.1 It is a significant achievement that Slobodan Milosevic, the alleged architect of so much of the car- nage in the Balkans, now sits in the dock of the ICTY, defending charges of geno- cide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. His favoured approach is to play the martyr.