As part of an eight-week study tour of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), students of the University of Denver, USA, met with the ICTY representative in BiH, Mr Almir Alić, to learn more about the experiences and challenges of post-conflict recovery.
Professor Ann Petrila and her students welcomed the opportunity offered by the Tribunal’s Outreach Programme to gain new insights into the Tribunal’s prosecution of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and commended the programme for ensuring that information about the work of the ICTY was readily available to students and researchers.
After being briefed on the work of the Tribunal and its key achievements over the last two decades, one student was particularly intrigued by the fact that only one woman was convicted by the ICTY for serious violations of international humanitarian law and expressed an interest in finding out more about the role of women in committing genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. Other students asked what mitigating circumstances could be taken into account when determining sentences for the most serious crimes.
The students indicated that they had been prompted to meet with a representative of the ICTY after visiting memorial centres in BiH and the locations where various crimes were committed during the conflict in the 1990s.