PRISHTINA, June 11 /ATA/ – War crimes trials and convictions do not prevent future conflicts and are not, by themselves, a means of reconciliation or lasting peace, speakers said on Wednesday at an international conference on transitional justice in Prishtina, Kosovo.
The conference, titled “Bridges of Memory: Reconciliation and Transitional Justice in Post-Conflict Societies – Diplomacy, Memory and Historical Interpretation”, was organized by the Freedom Has a name platform and the Kosovo Institute for Policy Research and Development (KIPRED).
Geoffrey Nice, a former prosecutor at the Hague Tribunal, said war crimes prosecutions were important for victims and the historical record but had not been shown to deter future wars.
“There is value for victims and for establishing the historical record, but there is no evidence that such trials stop future conflicts,” Nice said. He added that a more honest acknowledgment of responsibility by states could contribute to a safer future.
Natasa Kandic of Serbia’s Humanitarian Law Center said trials alone could not reconcile societies or guarantee peace, although they had helped establish important facts about past crimes.
“After responsibility for transitional justice was transferred to domestic courts across the former Yugoslavia, the voices of victims largely disappeared from the agendas of governments in the region,” she said.
Daan Everts, former head of the OSCE Mission in Kosovo, said uncertainty over Kosovo’s final status had been a key factor behind ethnic tensions.
“When there is uncertainty about the future, status and borders, it encourages extreme positions on both sides,” he said, referring to competing demands for immediate independence and resistance to any change.
U.S. foreign policy analyst Daniel Serwer said reconciliation could not be imposed on victims of violence.
“You cannot ask people who have suffered killings and rape to reconcile with the perpetrators,” Serwer said, arguing that efforts should focus on building a better future rather than seeking reconciliation for its own sake.
/Kosovapress/u.sh/
