ABSTRACT
The International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 was established by Security Council Resolution 827 of May 25, 1993. Since the trials of Nuremberg and Tokyo, this is the first attempt by the international community to prosecute the authors of atrocious crimes that shock the conscience of humankind and seem to roll back to square one the concept of international protection of human rights. The International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, in contrast, is constrained to act from outside the territory of the former Yugoslavia. Its main source of evidence will therefore be testimony by witnesses. The Inter-American Commission on Human Rights has stated that with regard to grave violations of human rights an amnesty cannot be validly declared. It is to be hoped that this pronouncement will at all times be remembered at the United Nations.
