“Justice is an indispensable ingredient of the process of national reconciliation. It is essential to the restoration of peaceful and normal relations between people who have lived under a reign of terror. It breaks the cycle of violence, hatred, and extra-judicial retribution. Thus peace and justice go hand in hand.”—Antonio Cassese
The former insurance building, a gray four-story edifice in The Hague, is so nondescript that it is difficult to imagine those working inside are committed to “bringing criminals to justice and justice to victims.” Though he works in very ordinary surroundings, Nial Raaen and his Court Management and Support Services staff at the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) are committed to just that mission.
As chief of court management for the ICTY, Raaen advances this mission in the most practical, but vital, of arenas. He and his staff provide legal and administrative support for trials conducted at the tribunal and maintain tribunal records. Specifically, his team handles responsibilities that range from organizing the logistics of trial, to ensuring that all rise when judges enter and exit the room, to keeping an official record of events in all hearings, to administering exhibits and filings that serve as evidence. Outside the courtroom, his team plays a vital role in ensuring ICTY transparency and participant confidentiality. They assume responsibility for receiving, archiving, redacting, and publishing more than 100,000 caserelated documents each year.
Raaen’s interest in justice and his path toward court management began in 1960s Tennessee when, as a high school newspaper photographer, he covered a story about prison reform efforts.The project sparked his interest in corrections reform.
He applied to the U-M SSW, hoping that the training he received would prepare him to enter the corrections field—and he was not disappointed. After completing a field placement at a Washtenaw County Sheriff’s Department halfway house, he secured a permanent position with the Sheriff’s Department and worked in both the halfway house and the jail.
For ten years, Raaen put his social work training to work in the service of the 14A District Court, Michigan, first as a probation officer and later as magistrate and court administrator. At the encouragement of John Tropman, Raaen expanded his administrative skills by completing a management certificate at the U-M SSW and a master’s of public administration at U-M.
His final assignment with the 14A District Court involved a pilot project that streamlined court operations. “We streamlined so well,” Raaen recalls, “that I retired and decided to try court management and administration consulting.”
While working on stateside court-improvement projects, Raaen stumbled on an opportunity to help the largest court in Cairo, Egypt, improve its case management system, consolidate its records center, and optimize its civil process. “I really liked it and couldn’t wait to do more,” he recalls.
In 2000 he volunteered for a project in Macedonia, and many of his subsequent assignments were located in the Balkans, piquing and deepening his interest in the region’s rich, if troubled, history. In 2007 Raaen married his interest in the former Yugoslavia to his well-honed administrative skills, accepting an appointment as chief of court management with the ICTY.
As a temporary organization established by the United Nations, Raaen explains, “it aims to promote reconciliation in the former Yugoslavia by bringing to justice those responsible at a high level for crimes.” The mission, however, can be complicated. “It is vital that people be accountable for their actions, but the length of a tribunal [ICTY was convened in 1993] can keep divisive issues in the forefront of cultural memory and doesn’t always permit the past to be past.”
Complexities aside, Raaen observes that the tribunal itself, with its international composition and missional focus, is an agent for reconciliation. “I have a staff of forty from twenty-four countries, including a number of staff members from the former Yugoslavia. It is remarkable to see how well people work together when they’re committed to a cause.”
—Elizabeth Leimbach Zambone is a freelance editor and writer living in Valparaiso, Indiana