ABSTRACT
This chapter explores the legal implications and consequences of the Council's establishing the two ad hoc tribunals, International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and to probe how politics interacts with justice when courts are dependent on state cooperation. It begins with a discussion of the legal basis for Security Council action. The momentous political changes which ended the Cold War rekindled interest in enforcing international criminal law at the United Nations. The post-Nuremberg broadening of international criminal responsibility to include actions outside and during armed conflict against one's own citizens reflects the incorporation of international human rights law. Applying domestic criminal law and trial procedures has filled gaps in an international legal system established for a different purpose the consensual regulation of the international behavior of states.
