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the fact that the WCC is the result of a top-down approach, the cooperation of
international and local judges and prosecutors has also shown positive results on local
capacity-building95 which can be further supported by the fact that ‘judgments passed
with international participation are often quoted by lower local Bosnian courts’.96
So far, the WCC has proved that it is not ‘only a bad substitute of the ICTY’,97
and although it is ‘another measure imposed on BiH’,98 this does not automatically
preclude positive results. The WCC has a potential for seeding ‘international
standards of justice’ into the domestic legal system of BiH. It is nevertheless highly
desirable to form a wider strategy (which depends on political will) by focusing also
on Entity courts in order to secure uniform application of international standards.
Finally, the legal outcomes and practice of the WCC have important theoretical
and policy implications as they can inform and inspire domestic prosecutions in
other post-conflict societies. The WCC was offering its ‘transfer of knowledge’ to
the Extraordinary Chambers in Cambodia,99 and a similar institutional model was
suggested for Burundi100 or for the Democratic Republic of Congo.101 International
law in general is playing an increasingly important role in restoring ‘constitutional
democracy’ elsewhere, which illustrates a further step in the internationalization of
rule of law efforts.102 The findings of this paper may be therefore used in a broader
discussion about the effectiveness of rule of law efforts in other post-conflict countries.
95 Mixed panels at the WCC contribute to higher penetration of norms of international law if compared
with previous UNMIK arrangements in Kosovo: see Schröder, supra note 60, p. 5.
96 Schröder, supra note 60, p. 18.
97 Shelving justice-war crimes prosecutions in paralysis, Report of Amnesty International, available at
(visited 23 February 2010).
98 Ibid.
99 See eg the visit and presentations by officials from the Court of BiH at the Extraordinary Chambers
in Cambodia, The Court Report (August 2008), available at
fileUpload/67/2008_August-Court_Report_FD.pdf (visited 9 June 2013).
100 See Letter from the Secretary-General to the President of the Security Council (S/2005/158) (11 March
2005), available at
pdf?OpenElement (visited 15 Decemebr 2013). See also SC Resolution 1606 (20 June 2005).
101 ‘The addition of a mixed chamber in the Congolese justice system with support from international
judicial experts – based primarily on the model of the War Crimes Chamber of Bosnia and
Herzegovina (WCC) – could provide the national justice system with the boost it needs to tackle
rampant impunity for the worst crimes’ in: A ‘mixed’ chamber for Congo?’ available at .
hrw.org/en/news/2009/11/19/mixed-chamber-congo (visited 14 September 2012) .
102 See eg SC Resolution 10054 (14 October 2010) on Haiti, which emphasized the efforts of both
Haitian actors and the international community ‘to ensure the holding of credible and legitimate
presidential and legislative elections […] which will further consolidate democracy, allow for the
completion of constitutional reform and contribute to the reconstruction process.’ See also various SC
Resolutions on Ivory Coast, which can be viewed as an intervention in the constitutional set up of the
country (as opposed to military intervention).