Travnik, 22 May 2012
Nerma Jelačić, head of the ICTY’s Outreach Programme, today spoke about the Tribunal’s achievements to a group of 50 students and professors from Vitez University’s Faculty of Law and Business Economy in Travnik, Bosnia and Herzegovina.
The one-hour presentation engendered a lively discussion on a number of issues, including the efficiency of ICTY proceedings, and the connection between the decisions of the ICTY and those of the International Court of Justice.
There was also a discussion as to whether expending so much in the way of time and resources in trying senior officials meant that the physical perpetrators of some of the crimes would evade justice. And on a related note, one of the professors expressed his concern at the slow pace of war crimes prosecutions before local judiciaries, which he said was due to the large number of cases and insufficient resources.
Senad Tatarević, the university’s managing director, underlined the importance of such presentations in bringing to the students’ attention the Tribunal’s groundbreaking jurisprudence and achievements, which he said would contribute hugely to their study of international humanitarian law.