Accountability for international crimes through alternatives to prosecution

Abstract

Criminal prosecution of those accused of committing international crimes is a fundamental aspect of international justice. Over the past twenty-five years, international law has progressively developed to create a corpus of international criminal law; prosecuting those responsible for committing the most heinous crimes. However, in certain cases of serious violations of international criminal law, the notion of remedial or retributive justice for victims often has to be balanced against the need of the territorial State to deal effectively and progressively with past atrocities and not to provoke or maintain further violence. Focusing on the normative rather than the punitive objectives of criminal law, it is suggested that essentially the same essence can be achieved by other means rather than prosecution. In this paper, we consider these other means of accountability for international crimes. This paper justifies the need for these methods, as means of achieving sustainable justice and peace in the international community. The methodology we adopt is the doctrinal research approach.

Keywords: crime, prosecution, accountability, alternatives, justice and victims