ABSTRACT

The testimony of Biljana Plavi during her trial at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia highlighted a recurring motif in the prosecution of those authorizing and realizing abuse in conflict situations. That is, the use of real and potential victimhood as justification. Plavi suggests that her abuses were a means of preventing the recurrence of Bosnian-Serb victimhood. The language of victim's victims of crimes and victims of crises suffuses international political discourse. Human rights law broadly indicates that the violation of international human rights law creates victims, but the violation of these laws is not, in most instances, a crime. International human rights law violations are sometimes prosecuted where they fall under international humanitarian law, but these remain more or less distinct spheres of legal activity with the victims of humanitarian law taking precedence in international law over the victims of violations of international human rights law.