Current Political Crisis and Regional War Crime Accountability in the Balkans : Boosting Judicial Transparency and Educating Journalists

Conference participants discussed judicial transparency and timely, objective and reliable reporting on war crimes committed in the 1990s, as well as the institutions and mechanisms dealing with these crimes.

With the mandate of judges at the UN ad hoc International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) currently set to end in December 2010, the ICTY’s work will continue in national courts, which have been operational for several years in countries such as Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), Croatia and Serbia (to mention only the main states represented at the event). Initially, national courts dealt primarily with cases transferred from the ICTY. Now, prosecutions are also carried out under respective state laws. Progress, however, varies from government to government and panelists generally agreed that Bosnian and Herzegovinian authorities have by far the most impressive track record. The next big Sisyphean task ahead is regional judicial cooperation. Due to different criminal legislation in each country (and in each entity within BiH) as well as constitutions that prevent extraditions of nationals, cross-national collaboration strategies move only slowly.

Functioning judicial processes and institutions are crucial for progress and stability in the region, but cannot be achieved without public support. Courts are institutions that remain still relatively inaccessible to civil society, despite their mission to service the public. The ICTY learned this lesson back in the 1990s when the lack of public outreach led to its controversial image across Southeast Europe. While some would argue its verdicts would not go far enough ; others accused it of ethnic-bias. Although several reports found these allegations groundless, mainstream media has played a detrimental role disseminating these rumors. Participants – including national judges from special war crimes chambers, international representatives from The Hague Tribunal as well as regional activists and journalists – all underlined these public outreach difficulties in their speeches, panel presentations, and discussions. Nonetheless, initiatives have been put in place to strengthen public outreach strategies from local courts, and educate not only society, but also the media in general. Several panelists expressed their concern that the latter often lacks professionalism and legal training, leading to unsatisfactory and novice trial reporting. Moreover, the role of the media has been problematic due to considerable politicization. Due to limited resources of staff to cover daily operations, journalists of mainstream media outlets often uncritically publish views from political figures, instead of collecting information directly from the judiciary and their outreach organs.

Undoubtedly, the conference reminded participants of the amount of work, which still needs to be done ; yet it also offered practical support. A workshop held on the last day attempted to provide the necessary impetus to promote codes of conduct for journalists in order to improve the relationship between the judiciary branch and the (in)famous fourth pillar of society. Critical voices, however, highlighted that these efforts are only at the beginning and more momentum needs to be created in order to witness a spill over effect that will guarantee a lasting footprint in the region. Courts, for instance, despite the PR of judicial spokespeople who stress transparency and accessibility to the public, still carry an incomprehensive public discourse of their yet crucial work. Additionally, civil society access to judicial processes, such as hearings, has improved on paper and in theory, but still needs to be implemented in order to explain the work to citizens. Notwithstanding the remaining difficulties, the wave of workshops and training sessions that include journalists in the region illustrates the willingness to tackle these problems. With the help of international actors such as the OSCE, but also from state institutions and civil sector organizations, these efforts seem to be launched increasingly from a bottom-up perspective, with the international community trying to play merely the role of an observer and facilitator rather than the all-knowing cookie-cutter-approach interventionist.