Globalizing Criminal Justice: Challenges for the International Criminal Court (Global Insights‪)‬

The decade-long experience of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) suggests that the newly operational International Criminal Court (ICC) will inevitably face challenges to its credibility and effectiveness. In addition to the well-publicized political objections to the court, there are two other problem areas. First, some impatient proponents of the new institution will undoubtedly be disappointed with the deliberate pace of investigations and prosecutions inherent in the proper administration of justice. The ICC judges and prosecutors should be prepared to face criticism from the media and pressure from various groups for not indicting immediately those "undoubtedly" responsible for alleged atrocities. Second, the accused, victims, and witnesses will find themselves in a foreign court with foreign judges and prosecutors. Quite often those involved in the court's proceedings will have to adapt to dealing with procedural rules foreign to their own previous domestic legal experiences. And some victims and witnesses will certainly bring with them the mental divide of "us versus them" from the battlefields to poison the ICC's chamber. Public Expectations and Pacing