Yugoslavia was an emerging superpower, which rose early in the 17th century. It was comprising modern countries of Slav people, like Serbia, Montenegro, Hungary and Austria. The state later collapsed in the early 90s because of wars and conflicts among the member states.
The Yugoslav Tribunal is the first war crimes court in history that sentenced living persons for genocide. They established a United Nations Security Council resolution in 1993 and with the participation of the European Union. For complex matters as war crimes investigations, there are many questions raised regarding their implementation and especially various legal issues involved from both legal perspectives and for social sciences.
This article digs deep into some of the prominent cases in the history of this court and the trials and Yugoslav wars.
The context of the Yugoslav Tribunal
The Yugoslav Tribunal for war crimes was not just a historic moment in the history of international justice. It was also an occasion for some of the world’s top legal experts to publicly voice their views on the confrontation between international law and the norms of war. The proceedings brought to a rapid end years of legal uncertainty surrounding the conflict in neighboring Yugoslavia.
For over two decades, the Tribunal had been operating in secret. Only after the fall of Yugoslavia did its proceedings become public knowledge. The proceedings were closely watched for signs of flaws in the international legal system and signs that some national laws were being ignored or circumvented.
In his closing submissions, Chief Justice Pierre de Vries laid out several concerns about how international criminal justice had been practised since 1945. He argued that the international community had failed in its responsibility to enforce laws relating to protecting human rights.
The Milosevic Trial
The landmark trials and convictions of Slobodan Milosevic, the former ruler of the Yugoslav republic of Yugoslavia, brought an end to an era of brutal political rule and dramatic changes in the social and cultural fabric of the country. Over 8,000 people were sentenced to death during the trials — more than any single mass trial in Europe before World War II.
While many Allied leaders had supported the idea of turning the country into a totalitarian state, many ruling-class Balkan nationals felt that such a course would be disastrous for their nation and stood firmly behind Slobodan’s right to a fair trial.
This was a necessary trial because it was the first time that an international tribunal had ruled on questions of war crimes and civilian murder based on international law. The judgement established that both countries, the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and Germany, handled these crimes. The trial has played an outstanding role in shaping future generations of the Serbia people. However, the trial verdict was released late after the death of the oppressor.
It was also the first time an international tribunal had determined who dealt with the deaths of at least 1.5 million people in the conflict’s course in Europe between 1992 and 1995. The United States, the United Kingdom, and some other countries that were parties to the war were also responsible.
What role did the Yugoslav Tribunal play in the former Yugoslavia?
The Yugoslav Tribunal was not simply a legal institution that gave the Bosnian people’s justice. It was conceived, launched, and operated to bring an end to the suffering of the people of Bosnia and Herzegovina. The principal aim of the Tribunal was, and still is, to bring an end to the war that broke out in mid-May 1992 between the Bosnian Islamic Congress (BHC) and the Bosnian Serb Army (BSA). This conflict resulted in the death and displacement of over 3 million people within the country.
The Tribunal was charged with hearing and deciding charges against individual soldiers and officers for atrocities they conducted during the war. Among many charges brought before it was systematic murder, deportation, persecution, and enslavement of ethnic groups. At its heart, the Tribunal was charged with deciding whether individual soldiers or senior military leaders make up war crimes. These charges are known as “General Crimes” under international law.
Intellectual support
Different organizations and societies provided general intellectual support. The primary task of such organizations was to provide an atmosphere of tolerance, interest and dialogue, which helped overcome the individual’s low self-esteem and enable people’s rapid evolution towards overcoming this negative state of affairs.
For creating and maintaining these ideals, various individuals made all efforts throughout different phases of recovery from injury, poverty, and lack of freedom, too easily found in many areas of contemporary society.
Challenges and Fall of Yugoslavia
Life in Yugoslavia was better than in other countries in Eastern Europe. By 1987, when the country became independent, life was better than in most of Europe, and Yugoslavia looked almost certain to continue maintaining this high level of prosperity. Yugoslavia had ample domestic resources, a skilled workforce, public services, and a trustworthy banking system.
The country had liberalized its economy in the late 1970s, allowing freedom of movement and foreign investment. Its political system was democratic under institutional constraints. It’s economy was blooming. Now the only unanswered question is;
How did this prosperous country become entangled in two foreign wars?
With de facto independence expanding across its borders, neighbors turned against it, provoking a conflict that would claim over 100,000 lives and claim another 300,000 lives within six months. Although initially organized as a coalition of the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) and the Communist Federal Republic of Albania, the conflict soon strengthened into a full-scale war between opposing political parties and internationally recognized forms of nationalism. Including Croatia into the conflict on April 6, 1992, initially led to a cessation of hostilities.
The fall of Yugoslavia in 1991 marked a critical moment in European history. It set the stage for the creation of the European Union and led to creating an international financial system previously unseen in human history. It seemed like a good thing — a necessary stage, perhaps, to lay the groundwork for a more efficient international trading system. For millions of Balkan people living in poverty and without access to technology before the war, it offered hope for a better life.
Bottom Line
For a long time, the only thing that divided Yugoslavia was loyalty to her government and its policies. But as the Cold War intensified, nationalism broke down along political and religious lines. Today, almost 50 years after the war, rival political parties still disagree on many issues, but they share one thing in common: their commitment to democracy and freedom for all.
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