during my years on the bench
i rendered virtually hundreds of
decisions
but several recent rulings leading
to acquittals have attracted much
criticisms even claims that
international criminal justice has
failed
nothing nothing is further from the
truth
but and before explaining to you why
this is so
i would like briefly to sketch to you
the contours of international criminal
justice and
explain and tell you how i came
to find myself on the bench
as you all know atrocities are not
new unfortunately are not new to human
history
but it was only after the massive
atrocities of world war ii
that an international criminal tribunal
was established
in nirenberg by the victorious powers
its mission was to try crimes against
humanitarian war crimes
22 leading nazis were in the dock
seven were given prison sentences
12 were sentenced to hank and three
were acquitted trials were also held in
tokyo
for japanese war crimes after
world war ii for half a century
there were no international tribunals
there were no
international trials but the atrocities
committed during the yugoslav wars in
the
90s and the genocide committed in
rwanda in 1994 led the united nations
to the establishment of war crimes
tribunals
one for former yugoslavian one for
rwanda
in 1993 and in 1994 respectively
other tribunals followed and then
in 1998 uh
the first permanent criminal tribunal
the icc the international criminal court
was established agreed upon in rome
international criminal justice after
half a century had
come alive in 1946
when nirenberg was ongoing i have hardly
heard of nirenberg
but my life was formed and
inevitably altered by the second world
war
i was nine when nazi germany invaded
poland
the country of my birth overnight we
became
refugees i survived in ghettos
hiding in lofts and cellars and
eventually
was put in a forced labor camp
i was 15 when the war ended
with most of my family killed by the
nazis
because they were jews
i emerged from the war lucky to be alive
with too many painful memories no
education and hunger
for school and normality
but an opportunity arose today for
palestine where i had relatives
and met those relatives enrolled me in
high school
and my goal which was not easy was to
catch up
with my education despite tremendous
gaps
in that education the deprivations of
world war ii
turned my craving for education into an
obsession
and education opened the door to all
that followed
the imprint of war made me interested in
work
that might contribute to making
atrocities responsible in the future
and reduce the danger of violence
chaos and loss of autonomy which i
remembered
so well i chose law international law
and after
the universities of jerusalem harvard
and cambridge
chose a career in israeli foreign
ministry
right after the six day war i was
appointed
legal advisor of the ministry a baptism
of fire came very soon thereafter
with a request from the prime minister
of israel
for a legal opinion as to the legality
of the establishment
under international law of settlements
on the west bank
in gaza and in the golan heights
i wrote the prime minister that such
settlements
would violate the forest geneva
convention
as well as the property rights of arab
inhabitants of palestine my opinion was
not accepted as you all know
and the wave of settlements followed
making
the achievement of peace in the future
so much
more difficult of course i knew that
this was not
the opinion that the prime minister
would have wanted
but i am convinced that legal advisors
must be faithful to the law
i have never regretted that opinion
in 1977 i resigned from the ministry
and immigrated to the united states
starting a new life as a professor of
international law
at nyu and the citizen
of the united states i taught human
rights
international humanitarian law and law
of war in 1998
i had the great honor of serving on the
u.s delegation to the rome conference
which established the international
criminal court
in 2001 i was elected by the united
nations gen assembly a judge
in the tribunal for the former
yugoslavia so
at the very young age of 71 i found
myself
starting a new career as an
international judge
although my career has followed
a circuitous path the constant theme
has been efforts to grapple
with the chaos and the pain of war
war shattered my childhood gave me a
craving
for education and a desire to use the
law
to bring an end to atrocities
war led to my legal opinion against the
settlements
as professor i taught the law of war
interest in the origins of the law of
war and the law of chivalry
led me to an abiding fascination with
shakespeare's
historical place now as a judge
i hear appeals concerning atrocities
committed in time of armed conflict
international criminal courts
are in many ways like criminal courts
in domestic jurisdictions they weigh
evidence
they follow due process of law they
abide
by law and human rights but
international criminal courts
and their cases are also extraordinary
because of the tremendous breadth and
massive scale of alleged crimes
committed over long periods and across
many localities because of the enormous
border of evidence
because of lack of an independent police
force
to help obtain and seize evidence
because of utter dependence on
cooperation of sovereign states
which is not always available
because some cases have a political
dimension
not least because they involve top
civilian and military leaders
because of their unique role
international criminal courts
are also often seen as something
much more than the just criminal courts
judgments are expected to be definitive
histories of the conflict
judgments are expected to foster
reconciliation
between and among parties to the
conflict
judgments are expected to bring
victims closure through convictions
often victims and members of the public
equate bringing senior leaders to
justice
with the entering of convictions thus
the accused
sometimes come before international
courts with a narrative
of guilt of course judgments
may well produce some such results
but this is not their judicial mission
nor is it a yardstick for measuring
their success a there is the wrap a
shakespeare road
different stakeholders have different
visions
of international criminal justice for
judges
bringing someone to justice means
trying the person charged fairly
soberly in accordance with the law and
evidence
and respecting the time-honored
presumption
of innocence this is what the rule of
law requires on a domestic level
and it requires no less on the
international level
nevertheless as i have mentioned several
judgments of acquittal
have led to claims that international
justice
is failing nothing is of course further
from the truth
we all recognize that both in domestic
and international systems acquittals
bring victims real pain and cause
controversy in the international system
given the dimension of the crimes and
the political aspects
this controversy is of course magnified
it might be seen as a denial of what
happened to the victims
or even the whole community and of their
hopes and
expectations others see acquittals
as rewriting the history of the conflict
and as a failure to promote
reconciliation
in my view true failure of international
justice
would be if judges were to convict
without
adequate evidentiary and legal basis
where the law or the evidence do not
support the finding
that the person is guilty beyond
reasonable doubt
it is the duty of any judge it is the
duty of all international judges
it is my duty to rule accordingly
in so doing judges do not declare that
the person charged is
innocent they do not redefine history
they simply followed the dictates of the
law no more
and no less judges must be blind
to outside sentiments to broader agendas
to pre-existing narratives of innocence
or guilt
and even to their own personal life
experience
it is a sign i suggest of a mature
and independent legal system the judges
are focused
on the narrow mandate given to them
which
is to try those charged with crimes
fairly and in accordance with the law
judges should not and do not try to
satisfy the expectations
often conflicting of the victims
prosecutors commentators civil society
and the broader public some
recent criticism suggests however the
importance
of strengthening the rule of law through
education and outreach
establishing respect for the rule of law
is critically important
in ensuring freedoms human rights
and an orderly society in all societies
the rule of law requires that we accept
not only those decisions of course with
which we agree
but also those with which we disagree
an a la carte approach to accepting
judgments
is a denial of the very foundations
of the rule of law in doing my work as a
judge
in a principled way come what may
in terms of criticism i am helping
to strengthen the integrity of
international criminal justice
and in years to come i trust that others
will see the first few decades of
international criminal justice
as a time when fledgling courts
made profoundly important contributions
to ending impunity and upholding human
rights and human dignity
so as you see my life has come a full
circle
from world war ii to trying war crimes
and doing it justly and fairly
looking back at my life difficult as it
may have been
at times i find comfort in the fact that
throughout i have tried to stay
on a moral course wherever the winds may
have been blowing
and i find comfort that come what may by
way of challenges and criticism
international justice too has stayed
and will stay its course and i thank you
you