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Not much justice : the performance of the Internationalized Criminal Courts in Kosovo, East Timor, Cambodia, and Sierra Leone

It has been claimed that internationalized, or "hybrid" courts, courts which mix international and local personnel and international and domestic law, can be used to replace or complement the work of the International Criminal Court. Four such hybrid courts---courts located in Kosovo, East Timor, Cambodia and Sierra Leone, have either just completed their work or are far enough along in their operation to provide a type of "justice laboratory" to test this claim. Analysis reveals that the performance of these courts has been poor. It shows that the courts in Kosovo and East Timor were doomed to failure, that the court in Cambodia is headed in the same direction, and that only the court operating in Sierra Leone offers a possibility that something close to justice will result. The summary recommendation drawn from the analysis is that hybrid courts should only be employed where: (1) international personnel control the proceedings, (2) the legal framework of the court conforms to international standards, and (3) the sponsors of the enterprise possess a clear ability, and demonstrate a credible commitment, to try and punish those most responsible for committing gross human rights offenses.

Identiferoai:union.ndltd.org:LACETR/oai:collectionscanada.gc.ca:QMM.101813
Date January 2007
CreatorsBowman, Herbert D.
PublisherMcGill University
Source SetsLibrary and Archives Canada ETDs Repository / Centre d'archives des thèses électroniques de Bibliothèque et Archives Canada
LanguageEnglish
Detected LanguageEnglish
TypeElectronic Thesis or Dissertation
Formatapplication/pdf
CoverageMaster of Laws (Institute of Comparative Law.)
Rights© Herbert D. Bowman, 2007
Relationalephsysno: 002612205, proquestno: AAIMR32878, Theses scanned by UMI/ProQuest.

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