Justice Denied

Last night, Former Yugoslav President Slobodan Milosevic was found dead in his jail cell in the Hague where he had spent the last four years on trial for more than 60 counts of war crimes, genocide, and crimes against humanity for his leading role in the brutal wars he launched in an effort to re-invent Yugoslavia along racial and ethnic lines.

More than simply a xenophobic madman, Milosevic was the embodiment of sad, sick aspect of human nature. That the world community allowed him to terrorize his nation unchecked for so long speaks to a deep disfunction within the policing function of the world community that has also manifested itself in the non-reaction to similar injustices in Rwanda, Sudan and elsewhere.

Moreover, the absurd trial of Milosevic in the Hague exposes the deep disfunction of the international court system. Milosevic died without ever being judged for his crimes; denying the people he victimized the opportunity to see him held to account for his actions and those of his regime. The inability of the tribunal to bring the trial to a speedy conclusion shows that the world community is a long way from creating a system of international accountability that is both credible and functional. In the end, the leaders who chose to send Milosevic to The Hague rather than trying him in his country inevitably regret that decision. If the world community is unable to prevent these sorts of atrocities, it should at least be able to hold them to account.