Thirty years ago today, on May 31, 1994, I walked into the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, to begin my tenure as a war crimes prosecutor — the first American prosecutor to go to work in an international court since the Nuremberg and Tokyo tribunals almost fifty years before. I was the first, among a group of prosecutors, investigators and analysts seconded from the US Departments of Justice and Defense, to arrive at the ICTY, but within weeks I was joined by a number of American colleagues sent by our government to The Hague in an effort to jump-start the work of the recently-created Tribunal.

We were keenly aware, at the time, that we were part of a groundbreaking undertaking, a new and innovative attempt by the international community to act collectively in combating impunity for atrocity crimes. While it had its problems, ICTY was largely a success and it did, in fact, give birth to the modern era of international justice, ushering in the creation of other tribunals for Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia, Iraq, Chad, Lebanon and, of course, the permanent International Criminal Court (ICC). The era of these multiple tribunals, however, has largely passed: all of these courts, with the exception of the ICC, have run their course.

While a special tribunal is still in place for Kosovo and other limited jurisdiction courts may be yet to come, it is painfully clear that the international political consensus that allowed for the establishment of ICTY and subsequent tribunals is no longer there. Instead, we have to look for other models for criminal accountability that will allow the global community to circumvent political impasses and respond effectively to mass atrocities in conflicts around the world.

Today, at Georgetown — through the International Criminal Justice Initiative (ICJI) — we are leading this effort to develop and implement a new model for international justice. In our role, as the lead entity for the Atrocity Crimes Advisory Group (ACA) for Ukraine, we are heading up a consortium of non-governmental actors that is working on behalf of the US, EU and UK governments to assist Ukraine in its investigation and prosecution of atrocity crimes.

This partnership between like-minded governments — providing a political mandate and financial backing — and non-governmental implementers that execute operations on the ground, is a first of its kind endeavor. It is, however, the type of innovative approach on which the international community will increasingly have to rely as we face the reality of political dysfunction in the UN Security Council and elsewhere.

Working with other partners at Georgetown, such as the Georgetown Institute for Women, Peace and Security (GIWPS) and the Conflict Resolution Program in the Department of Government, we are building a university-wide coalition to enliven a concept that my colleague at Georgetown Law, Professor Jane Stromseth, described as a “web of accountability” — one that encompasses international and domestic prosecutions, use of universal jurisdiction, reparative and restorative justice initiatives, sanctions and other justice mechanisms.

Through our work in ACA and in developing this “web of accountability,” we are positioning Georgetown — uniquely among academic institutions anywhere — to be in the lead as we shift from one era in international justice to the next. I had the privilege, thirty years ago, of being involved at ground level as the first international criminal tribunal was launched. I feel equally privileged to be working with my colleagues in ICJI, and in the broader university community, as Georgetown takes a leading role in constructing and implementing new approaches to international justice that are viable for our day and time.