Hybrid Justice: Innovation and Impact in the Prosecution of Atrocity Crimes

The last decade has seen the unexpected re-emergence of hybrid and internationalized courts, tribunals which operate with varying combinations of national and international law, procedure, and staff. The permanent International Criminal Court (ICC) should have made such hybrid mechanisms largely obsolete, yet hybrids have recently been established or proposed for crimes committed in Chad, South Sudan, Israel/Palestine, the Central African Republic, Kosovo, Syria, Sri Lanka, Myanmar, The Gambia, and Liberia, among others. One of the most pressing conversations in international criminal law is whether and how a hybrid tribunal can be set up to address Russia’s commission of the crime of aggression in Ukraine. Hybrid courts are often a response to the need to make justice more—albeit not entirely—local. They operate with differing degrees and elements of national and international law and staff. Some hold proceedings in the relevant situation country, others in third-party states, and yet others offer a mix of both. All contribute significantly to the broader ‘system’ of international criminal justice. This edited volume examines the resurgence of hybrids. The contributors—lawyers, academics, and activists—offer analyses of the ways in which hybrids have succeeded or failed to achieve their objectives and, in doing so, help to clarify what makes hybrids more or less likely to succeed in their mandates and impacts. The authors focus on hybrid courts and resilience: the resilience of hybrid mechanisms to withstand political and other pressures in order to deliver justice and accountability, and the potential contribution of hybrids to the resilience of affected communities. Chapters are grouped into sections on the fields, practices, innovations, and impacts of hybrid courts, to draw out lessons for the future of hybrid justice.