ABSTRACT
International prosecution of the perpetrators of war crimes and other gross human rights violations has emerged as one of the most significant expansions of international authority since the founding of the United Nations system. Beginning in 1993 with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Security Council has had a hand in establishing a number of special purpose courts, some purely international (like the ICTY and its counterpart for Rwanda, the ICTR) and some “mixed” (with both international and national elements, as in East Timor, Sierra Leone, and Cambodia). The new international and mixed tribunals represent a dramatic expansion of international authority into the judicial domain. In these courts, individuals are held accountable for violations of international humanitarian law. When these tribunals hand down punishments, they act on behalf of international society.
