International War Crimes Tribunals and the Challenge of Outreach

Abstract A significant challenge facing international war crimes tribunals is to reach out to and to communicate their work to the local populations concerned. The purpose of this article, therefore, is to analyze and to explore the Outreach programmes of three particular courts, namely the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the International Criminal Court (ICC). It will argue that notwithstanding the important and creative Outreach work being undertaken by these courts, more resources must be invested in their Outreach sections if they are to achieve their ambitious objectives, not least the goal of contributing to peace.