‘If I Would Stay Alive,I Would Be Their Voice’: On the Legitimacy of International People's Tribunals |
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| Authors: | Aldo Zammit Borda Stefan Mandelbaum |
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| Institution: | 1. Reader in International Law, City, University of London. Between 2020 and 2022, I served as the Head of Research and Investigation for the Uyghur Tribunal (UT). All views are however my own and do not represent the views of the UT. We wished to thank Ms Ishani Thakrar for her research assistance and the anonymous reviewers for their valuable comments. All URLs were last visited 11 March 2022.;2. Lecturer in International Law, University of East Anglia. |
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| Abstract: | In recent years there has been a proliferation of People's Tribunals (PTs), promising to address atrocities that have fallen through the net of a statist international legal order. However, the status of such informal tribunals has remained controversial in both literature and practice. The dominant view has been that PTs simply lack legitimate authority. Positing that, in the language game of legitimacy, PTs are put on a perpetual argumentative backfoot, this article examines aspects of their input, process and output legitimacy. It is argued that the right of victims-survivors to be heard reigns supreme and it is in upholding that right that the authority of PTs is legitimised. In the current state of international justice, PTs constitute indispensable, quasi-judicial institutions that bridge gaps in access to justice, challenge official narratives (or silences) about atrocities and, potentially, open up new avenues towards justice and recognition. |
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