International Intervention and Norm Internalization

Abstract

AbstractThis chapter examines to what extent the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, the Special Court for Sierra Leone, and the International Criminal Court encouraged domestic actors in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and the Democratic Republic of Congo to enact normative reforms and to what extent international norms are respected in national trials of serious crimes. Focusing on areas of synergy, antagonism, and indifference, it assesses not just how international criminal tribunals influence legislative reforms but also to what extent domestic judiciaries internalize international standards in practice. The chapter argues that, while the Rome Statute functions as a global code for international crimes, states under the shadow of the International Criminal Court’s intervention may prioritize the holding of criminal proceedings as such, which is sufficient to repel external scrutiny but does not necessarily address the underlying conditions that enable impunity. As a result, international intervention may even promote ‘unintended diversionary complementarity’ and elide complex questions around the quality and aims of domestic and international trials in fostering emancipatory justice and transitions towards peace.