A New Tribunal for an Old Problem: Why 2026 Is a Landmark Year for International Justice
In 2026, the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine moved from proposal to institutional reality. The European Union formally committed to supporting its establishment, the Council of Europe has continued publishing updates on its progress through a dedicated tracking page, and Ukraine's own government has pressed allies for a concrete timeline. For the first time since the ad hoc tribunals of the 1990s, the international community is building an entirely new criminal justice institution from scratch — and doing so in real time, under intense political and legal scrutiny.
That makes The Story of Modern International Justice, 1993-2025, by David J. Scheffer and Mark S. Ellis, arrive at a genuinely useful moment. Scheffer was the first U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues and helped negotiate the Rome Statute that created the International Criminal Court; Ellis spent more than two decades as Executive Director of the International Bar Association. Between them, they offer something rarer than a textbook survey: a first-hand account of how the ICJ, the ad hoc and hybrid tribunals, the ICC, and the regional human rights courts of Europe, Latin America, and Africa actually came together over 32 years — and a dedicated chapter tracing exactly how the newest of these institutions, the Special Tribunal for Ukraine, is being built.
Three uses stand out for readers following this moment closely. For practitioners advising on accountability mechanisms, the book's chapter-by-chapter comparison of ad hoc versus hybrid tribunal design offers a direct template for evaluating what the Ukraine tribunal can and cannot do. For scholars teaching international criminal law, its treatment of command responsibility and joint criminal enterprise gives students a grounded, case-driven way into doctrines that are otherwise easy to teach in the abstract. And for anyone briefing policymakers on where the tribunal fits institutionally, the book situates it squarely within the UN Security Council and General Assembly authority that created its predecessors — explaining why this path was chosen over others.
For law libraries, this is exactly the kind of acquisition that earns its shelf space twice over: it serves researchers working on the 1990s tribunals today, and it will remain the standard reference as the Ukraine tribunal's own jurisprudence begins to accumulate over the next several years.
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Q&A
Q: What is the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, and why does it matter now?
A: It is a new international criminal tribunal, backed by the EU and the Council of Europe in 2026, created specifically to prosecute the crime of aggression in connection with the war in Ukraine — the first entirely new international criminal institution built since the 1990s ad hoc tribunals.
Q: Does this book explain how the tribunal is being set up?
A: Yes, it includes a dedicated chapter on the creation of the Special Tribunal for the Crime of Aggression against Ukraine, written from the perspective of two authors with direct experience in how comparable institutions were built.
Q: Who are David J. Scheffer and Mark S. Ellis?
A: Scheffer was the first U.S. Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues and a lead negotiator of the Rome Statute that created the ICC; Ellis served for more than two decades as Executive Director of the International Bar Association.
Q: Is this book suitable for a law library's international law collection?
A: Yes — it is a single-volume reference spanning the ICJ, the ad hoc and hybrid tribunals, the ICC, and regional human rights courts, useful for both current teaching and ongoing research as the Ukraine tribunal develops.
Q: Where can I buy The Story of Modern International Justice, 1993-2025?
A: Directly from CLNZ Books, with worldwide shipping included in the price.