International and Comparative Law

The civil war that ensued the breakup of the former Yugoslavia has had a strong impact on the development of international criminal law since the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). It was hoped that the imposition of individual criminal responsibility would help overcome the trauma of the atrocities that had been committed and pave the way for reconciliation. enough. In fact, in spite of historic judgments against some of the responsible war criminals—most of them of the highest military and political ranks—ethnic tensions have soared in Bosnia-Herzegovina in recent years.