THE JUDGMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE 'GENOCIDE' CASE BETWEEN BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA v. SERBIA AND MONTENEGRO

摘要

Not only is the judgment issued on February 26, 2007, by the International Court (ICJ) in the case concerning the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Bosnia and Herzegovina v. Serbia and Montenegro), one of the longest judgements ever delivered by the principal judicial organ of the United Nations after an unprecedented, fourteen year-long procedure, it also constitutes an important legal contribution to the qualification of the dramatic events that took place in the territory of the former Yugoslavia, particularly in Bosnia and Herzegovina, during the first half of the 1990's. Against the background of the violent dissolution of the Socialist Federalist Republic of Yugoslavia, the numerous atrocities reported almost instantaneously worldwide, and the difficulties that the international community had in coping with such a tragic situation, it was no surprise that the delivery of the Court's judgment brought much political and media attention to the Peace Palace in The Hague.