United Nations-Related Criminal Courts and Tribunals: Fleeting Mirages of Transitional Justice or a Piecemeal Approach to Cosmopolitan Justice?

Abstract

By analysing the mandate and the work of UN–related criminal courts and tribunals in investigating and prosecuting those most responsible for mass atrocity crimes and in supporting related domestic transitional justice efforts, this article aims at assessing whether these efforts are just fleeting mirages of transitional justice or a piecemeal approach towards building a cosmopolitan justice model. To that aim, the article evaluates the role and contribution of key UN–related criminal courts and tribunals towards developing a commonly shared concept and model of cosmopolitan justice which furthers peace and ensures the protection of populations from mass atrocity crimes, namely genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The theoretical approach is based on Focarelli’s argument that international law, seen as a social construct, can contribute in some measure to global justice. Ratner’s standard of global justice, based on peace and human rights protection, is used as a general benchmark for the assessment of the activity of these international judicial institutions.

Keywords: transitional justice, cosmopolitan justice, UN-related criminal courts and tribunals, mass atrocity crimes, human rights protection.