By Shannon Togawa Mercer
The world of
international institutions is abuzz with conversation about the conviction of
Radovan Karadzic. On March 24, the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) convicted the former President of Republika Srpska,
and Supreme Commander of the Bosnian Serb army, for war crimes, genocide and
crimes against humanity. Radovan Karadzic will serve 40 years of imprisonment
for his crime. At his age, the 40 year sentence could very well translate to a
sentence for life. This conviction represents more than justice for those
impacted by the horrific Srebrenica massacre and other acts of ethnic cleansing.
In a world in which the United Nations Dag Hammarskjold Library
in New York announced
that its most popular book of 2015 was “Immunity of Heads of State and State
Officials for International Crimes,” this is, on its face, a reminder that
former heads of state are not untouchable. Zeid Ra’ad al-Hussein, the United
Nations human rights chief, explained the verdict as “a forceful manifestation of the
international community’s implacable commitment to accountability.”
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