Abstract

In December 2005, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) delivered its judgment in the case brought by the Democratic Republic of the Congo against Uganda for, inter alia, massive human rights violations. Throughout 2005, the International Criminal Court (ICC) had been investigating human rights abuses allegedly committed in the same two African countries.

Then, in February 2006, the ICJ commenced new public hearings for claims of genocide brought by Bosnia and Herzegovina against Serbia and Montenegro. Meanwhile, in another courtroom in The Hague, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was continuing the trial of Slobodan Milošević, the former president of the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia, for crimes including genocide in Bosnia and Herzegovina.

The overlap between these international courts is no longer hypothetical and it deserves to be critically examined.