ABSTRACT
People continue to reject uncomfortable truths and to take refuge in denial; and significant obstacles to reconciliation persist, not least an absence of inter-ethnic trust. It is precisely these continuities which have always contributed to and reinforced the deep scepticism that the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) can assist reconciliation. While it is true that interviewees commonly identified justice as a necessary prerequisite for reconciliation, they seldom associated the ICTY itself with justice. It is also the case that interviewees widely underscored the importance of truth. Although reconciliation is not an official part of the ICTY's mandate, claims that the Tribunal can contribute to this process are similarly contextually frictional and overlook the critical fact that there are few local actors working on the process of improving inter-ethnic relations. In a 2009 report, the UN Secretary-General even went as far as to refer to the Tribunals' archives as 'tools for fostering reconciliation and memory'.
