Publication details
The Role of International Law in the Rule of Law Efforts in Post-Dayton Bosnia and Herzegovina
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| Year of publication | 2014 |
| Type | Chapter of a book |
| MU Faculty or unit | |
| Citation | |
| Description | Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) went through the worst conflict in Europe since the Second World War. BiH therefore ended on ‘the long list’ of countries in post-conflict situations that need to rebuild the rule of law. While it is true that the responsibility for re-establishment of the rule of law rests primarily with the local population and should ideally be initiated or led by domestic actors in order to secure a ‘local ownership’ of the process, this option is not always available, and external assistance may be needed. In the circumstances of BiH, the international community played a significant role by, inter alia, introducing various international components (including institutions, personnel, and new legislation incorporating international law) in order to actuate the rule of law. This paper briefly examines how successful such rule of law efforts were that were not rooted in the local context but rather imposed from outside. The rule of law is a complex system which strives to achieve various goals. The focus of this paper is on two such goals: upholding human rights and providing efficient and impartial justice for the victims of an armed conflict. Due to the importance of the role of international law in achieving these goals, the paper discusses the process of empowering domestic institutions to apply international law, with special focus on the establishment of the War Crimes Chamber of the Court of BiH (WCC). WCC deals with atrocities committed during the 1992-1995 armed conflict and has a close relationship with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). |