Overview

The first of its kind, this book treats language justice in the realm of the international criminal law, focusing specifically on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY). Defining linguistic justice to mean whether the parties to the proceedings have been addressed by the ICTY in their own language, this study explores the conditions for the delivery of linguistic justice in a context where language plays a key role in the conflict. After presenting a very brief history of language quarrels in the former Yugoslavia and pointing to a series of examples where the language, and underlying ethnic and national identities, have been used as a tool for a conflict, the book reviews ICTY language laws, language-related case law, and procedural linguistic equality of arms between the ICTY Prosecution and Defense to set the stage for language-related work that had to be carried out by the ICTY's language services providers. After reviewing the history, the recruitment, professional criteria and standards, and training of all ICTY language professionals, this book explores whether linguistic justice has been served by showing overall outputs in translation and interpretation, overall ethnicity- and nationality-based language service delivery, and translation of the permanent court record. It shows that there is much more to provision of language services at international criminal tribunals adjudicating on ethnically motivated war crimes than traditionally thought, and questions whether any of it make any sense as things stand.

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9781527561557

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Reviews

This book is about the first tribunal of its kind to be established since the tribunals that tried the war criminals of World War Two. It has broad implications for both academics and practitioners in the humanities and social sciences in a wide range of fields extending beyond law and language to every area of human relations. Dr Fidahic has addressed both legal and linguistic fields, and, at the same time, has done an admirable job summarizing complex historical and practical issues. He has used his first-hand experiences and academic training to produce a work of important insight into the workings of the United Nations and the need to learn from these insights. Victor A. FriedmanAndrew W. Mellon Distinguished Service Professor Emeritus in the Humanities, University of Chicago; Honorary Associate, La Trobe University, Australia This is a meticulous, comprehensive study, a real eye-opener on how dysfunctional the UN is. A vast bureaucratic apparatus failed to provide appropriate interpretation and translation services for witnesses and victims of ethnic atrocity crimes. Nor has it promoted reconciliation between Serbs, Croats, and Bosnians. The book explains how judicial practice can be undermined. Besmir Fidahic has performed a service that the UN should learn from. Robert PhillipsonProfessor, Copenhagen Business School, Denmark For international (criminal) lawyers, the work and jurisprudence of the ICTY is indispensable. While the ICTY's decisions and related primary and secondary sources are accessible via mostly English and French texts, those legal researchers with a desire for a deeper understanding of the original testimony in proper context, inevitably encounter various linguistic barriers. Besmir Fidahic's book provides the solution. The book is first and foremost a resource: it is a compilation of materials (including primary sources) made more accessible by the author. This is not yet another book on the ICTY, its cases and institutional and political background, but rather concerns an aspect that is very inaccessible for most international criminal lawyers and others interested in the work of the ICTY. The author should thus be commended for the terse and very clear explanation of the sometimes dry and inaccessible primary data and sources. Fidahic's book is required reading for all international (criminal) lawyers interested in a proper understanding of the legal, cultural and historical legacies of the ICTY; legacies that can only be appreciated with the help of a proper understanding of the role of language and translation at the ICTY. Gerhard KempProfessor of International and Transnational Criminal Justice, University of Derby, UK

Author Information

Besmir Fidahic has been with the UN as a translator, interpreter, and editor in a conflict, post-conflict, humanitarian, development, and international criminal tribunals context his entire professional life. His work focuses on the treatment of language and underlying rights to translation and interpretation in the realm of international criminal tribunals, as well as linguistic justice at the ICC, STL, SCSL, and ECCC.

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