The Price of International Justice

Abstract

In 2005, about $420 million were spent on international courts and tribunals. About three fourths of this sum is for international criminal bodies alone. Of those $420 million, about $71 million was paid by the U.S. and $185 by the members of the European Union.

This study aims to diagnose the financial health of the eleven major international courts and tribunals, focusing on the most urgent and significant difficulties faced by each to determine whether governments are allocating the necessary resources to ensure they are able to do their job properly and to determine where action needs to be taken. A series of more general policy-making considerations and recommendations aimed at helping international judicial bodies carry out their assigned mission follows.