Justice Presumed and Assistance Denied: The Yugoslav Tribunal as Obstruction to Economic Recovery

The value of the ICTY for stabilizing the Balkans is rarely questioned, but the Tribunal is unpopular with the majority of people there. More international funding is spent on the Tribunal than on improving health and other services in Bosnia, while “conditionality” based on cooperation with the Tribunal impedes the economic and democratic development of the region. Can a court that tries to keep the memory of massacres fresh for 20 years, that is overwhelmingly mistrusted by the very people to whom it claims to bring justice, and that has called for economic sanctions on a devastated region, really be a force for reconciliation and the building of stable political relations in the Balkans?