International Justice Must Start at Home/ James
A. Goldston is the executive
director of the Open Society Justice Initiative.
The New York Times | 18
de junio de 12
The International
Criminal Court made headlines last week by pronouncing its first sentence, on
Thomas Lubanga, a former Congolese warlord who forced children into combat. A
decade after the I.C.C. opened its doors, the completion of its first trial
marked a major milestone in the development of international justice.
But even as the I.C.C.
savors this achievement, the court is struggling to deal with growing demands
for justice that it can’t satisfy. The I.C.C. has the capacity to try only a
handful of perpetrators in any conflict. Though Lubanga has been convicted,
many who committed rape and murder remain at large, limiting the court’s
deterrent impact. If the world is to make good on the promise of “never again,”
states must shoulder more of the burden by redressing atrocities — not before
the I.C.C. in The Hague, but in their own national courts.
