When the UN Security Council (UNSC) created the International Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in 1993, and Rwanda (ICTR) in 1994, it had in mind that the Tribunals were ad hoc and should have a brief life, enough only to bring to justice those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law in those countries. In 2010, as a part of the Completion Strategy, the UNSC established the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals as a new ad hoc body, with the purpose of making sure that the Tribunals conclude their missions timely and successfully. The ICTR was officially closed on 31 December 2015. The ICTY will finish its work at the end of 2017. In this article is the analysis of the cases decided by the ICTY in 2015, providing the relevant facts of each case, the reasoning and the decision issued.
Member of the Institut de droit international; former member of the Appeals Chamber of the ICTY and the ICTR; Member of the Editorial Board.
