ABSTRACT
This chapter reviews the use of cultural expertise by three international tribunals – the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the International Criminal Court and the Special Court for Sierra Leone – to highlight the interdisciplinary challenges of incorporating anthropological perspectives into a legal setting and how these can be overcome. It helps the readers to understand why cultural expertise is important to international tribunals, how international tribunals gather cultural knowledge, examples where cultural expertise has influenced the decisions of the court and how to assess cultural expertise in the form of expert witnessing in international criminal law. International criminal tribunals (ICTs) such as the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) are places where legal professionals from around the world participate in a trial on behalf of the international community for the benefit of an affected community who may not be able to without international assistance.
