This 61-page report evaluates the chamber’s work in conducting trials. Although a relatively new institution, the chamber has made substantial headway in trying cases, including the trial of 11 defendants charged with genocide for their role in the Srebrenica massacre. Other important accomplishments include introducing support for witnesses in the pre-indictment phase and establishing an effective defense office committed to assisting defendants in trials before the chamber.

The conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina, which lasted from 1992 to 1995, was characterized by grave violations of human rights such as mass killings, rapes, widespread destruction, and displacement of the population. These violations, including the genocide of between seven thousand and eight thousand Bosnian Muslim men and boys at Srebrenica, seized the international community’s attention due to their brutality and scale. In the aftermath, the desire to bring perpetrators to justice for these and other human rights violations committed during the Balkans conflicts resulted in the Security Council establishing the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).