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David Tolbert: The World Needs International Justice More than Ever

Transitional justice expert to speak at FHI March 25

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David Tolbert is concerning that weakening support for the ICC and other international institutions will mean human rights abusers won't be held accountable.

David Tolbert grew up in North Carolina under the conditions of segregation and learned about human rights through personal experience. As president of the International Center for Transitional Justice and with previous experience as deputy chief prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), Tolbert's fight for human rights is now on a global scale as he promotes international support for international institutions of justice.

Tolbert will give a talk entitled, "Is the International Community Abandoning the Fight for Impunity?" at 6 p.m. Wednesday, March 25, in the the Franklin Humanities Institute Garage in Smith Warehouse. For more information about Tolbert’s talk, please click here.

Below, Tolbert talks about the importance of international institutions such as the International Criminal Court (ICC) in holding individuals responsible for human rights abuses. Tolbert was interviewed by Sarah Kerman, a Duke undergraduate working for the Duke Human Rights Center@FHI.

 

What is your advice to students thinking of a career in human rights?

Getting a good grounding in human rights law and principles is important.  I would also suggest that students get relevant experience. Thus, working with national or local civil society efforts, so that they have an understanding of who they are working for and understanding the challenges is essential.

I would also say, for the lawyers who read this, that you should get some practice experience. When I was deputy chief prosecutor at the ICTY, I was not very interested in lawyers who did not know their national system, as that is where the relevant experience is gained. So, I would advise that in addition to obtaining the education in the field of your choosing, students should look to work with those on the front line, such as victims, affected communities, activists.

 

What is the value in having an international court to try human rights violations?  What limitations do you see the ICC facing? 

An international court is clearly a court of last resort.  The first port of call is the national system, and it is generally only in extreme cases that we should be turning to international courts. I would note, of course, that regional human rights courts have played an important role in a number of places, particularly in Europe and Latin America.

In terms of international criminal courts, such as the ICC, they face enormous challenges.  At the ICTY where we were created by the UN Security Council and had the support of many of the great powers as well as a narrow territorial jurisdiction (the territory of the former Yugoslavia), it was hard enough. The ICC has none of these advantages and a very broad number of situations to potentially monitor.

The importance of having the ICC is, however, immense. It is the high water mark of the international community’s fight against impunity.  However, in the wake of 9/11, the Iraq war catastrophe and a number of other developments, the world’s commitment to this fight has wavered. So, the ICC operates in a difficult political terrain and with many constraints in terms of its resources and powers. At the moment it is facing a concerted political attack on a number of fronts, and it needs a great deal more support.

  

Do you think the US will be held accountable for torture and indefinite detention in Guantanamo?

I certainly hope so. It is a moral imperative for the United States government but also for the American people. Thus, active civil society engagement on this issue is critical to ensure that there is accountability and acknowledgement for these crimes and abuses. I do think we should bear in mind that often it takes a long to time to see abuses addresses. It took 40 years for the US to begin to address the internment of Japanese-American. So, we must be prepared for a long struggle, but there is some cause for hope that the battle will be yet won.