Kilde: Carla del Pontes åbningstale i sagen mod Slobodan Milosevic

”Your Honours, the Chamber will now begin the trial of this man for the wrongs he is said to have done to the people of his own country and to his neighbours. How simple that statement is to make today; how easily those words pass into the record of these proceedings; and yet how remarkable it is that I am able to speak them here. Today, as never before, we see international justice in action.

Let us take a moment at the start of this trial to reflect upon the establishment of this Tribunal and its purpose. We should just pause to recall the daily scenes of grief and suffering that came to define armed conflict in the former Yugoslavia. The events themselves were notorious and a new term, “ethnic cleansing”, came into common use in our language. Some of the incidents reveal an almost medieval savagery and the calculated cruelty that went far beyond the bounds of legitimate warfare. The international community was shocked to witness the vicous disintegration of a modern state, and the Security Council of the United Nations was quick to recognise the grave threat caused by the serious crimes it believed to have been committed.

This Tribunal is one of the measures taken by the Security Council acting for all Member States of the United Nations to restore and maintain international peace and security. That is our purpose, and our unique contribution is to bring to justice the persons responsible for the worst crimes known to humankind. 

The crime of genocide, crimes against humanity, and the other crimes within the jurisdiction of this Tribunal are not local affairs, and their prosecution may be beyond the capability of national courts. Crimes of the magnitude of those in the indictment before the Chamber affect all of us throughout the world. The law of this Tribunal – international humanitarian law – is the concern of people everywhere.

These crimes touch every one of us, wherever we live, because they offend against our deepest principles of human rights and human dignity. The law is not a mere theory or an abstract concept. It is a living instrument that must protect our values and regulate civilised society. And for that we must protect our values and regulate civilised society. And for that we must be able to enforce the law when it is broken. This Tribunal, and this trial in particular, give the most powerful demonstration that no one is above the law or beyond the reach of international justice.”