The Trivialisation of War Crimes Trials.

Is it a scene from the next Tomb Raider-installment? No, it‘s news! Popstars, if you want them: Angelina Jolie and Luis Moreno Ocampo looking seriously serious on the occasion of Ms Jolie‘s visit to the ICC. The photo comes via Melbourne‘s The Age‘s Lifestyle section, which is already somewhat worrying: War Crimes prosecution as a lifestyle-choice.

Of course, commitment to justice is open to celebrities and campaigns such as the one to stop the situation in Darfur, fruitless as they might be despite raising awareness, rely on celebrities. But everything is wrong about this picture. You can almost hear Moreno Ocampo saying “Yes, yes, serious matter, these war crimes“ to which Angelina Jolie nods her head and puts on exactly the expression she has here. And they’re both thinking, “Image, it‘s all about image, how do we look? Is my expression concerned enough? Do I look cool next to this modern icon? Don‘t I look cool next to this modern icon?“ And just who is the icon here? Moreno Ocampo quite possibly sees himself as one – and would be delighted to find out that (if) Angelina Jolie agrees.

But the attraction of War Crimes Trials as a means to achieve justice remains, as of now, just a promise. Some reports have Jolie down as a witness in the trial against Lubanga, and it would be indeed interesting to hear how she would qualify. Expert witness? Well, if moral outrage at abhorrent behaviour alone would be enough to qualify to serve justice, we‘d all be not only witnesses, but judges! It is way too early to make much of Moreno Ocampo‘s track record, but he certainly knows how to put himself in the spotlight. He‘s far out-Del Ponte-ing Carla Del Ponte, yet the merits of this approach seem questionable. As it is, there is hardly any public understanding of the limits and limitations of international criminal prosecutions – and the self-serving popularisation hardly contributes to furthering this understanding. This, then, is probably what‘s so seriously wrong with this picture: The image appears so familiar, so easy to understand that we can easily believe that not only do we understand the crimes under investigation under international criminal law, but also how to bring them to justice and thus bring justice to the places in which those crimes occurred. Of this we should be very sceptical.