Peoples’ Tribunals and International Law investigates the characteristics, legal nature, and forms of process of the so-called “Peoples’ Tribunals” [PTs], which are defined in this book as “a process initiated by civil society that involves the presentation to a body of eminent persons of evidence and arguments that seek to establish whether a state, international organisation, corporation or, less frequently, specified individuals have committed breaches of international law or of another body of law or norms” (pp. 3–4). This phenomenon is widely underexplored in, and often criticized by, international legal scholarship. However, the number of PTs, in the variety of topics and forms of organization, has significantly increased in the past years and their contribution to international law must be appreciated. The co-editors, Byrnes and Simm, who had already worked together on the topic, had the excellent idea to place PTs in context and try to provide examples and critical analysis. The research is necessarily limited, but nonetheless, and importantly, the book brings attention to a topic which should be part of all manuals of international law, since PTs attempt to respond to a quest of justice to which the international legal system often has no answers. They are “soft” instruments, but have been in some cases the only voice for victims without other forms of redress.

The Introduction explores the origin and the history of PTs, explaining how they critique the content of existing international law, which perpetuates patterns of oppression, but at the same time use international law for their decisions. The second chapter is by Gianni Tognoni, doctor of medicine and Secretary-General of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal, which was founded by Lelio Basso in Rome and has been in operation since 1979. His criticism is stronger than the other contributors with regard to international law, and his reflection is provocative, especially on the concept of “peoples” and on the symbolic value of the Tribunals’ decisions.

The second part, “The Politics of Bearing Witness and Listening”, covers some women's courts, including the Tokyo Women's Tribunal (Ustinia Dolgopol), the 1965 Tribunal on the crimes in Indonesia (Saskia E. Wieringa), and the “laboratory” of the Permanent Peoples’ Tribunal (Tognoni and Simona Fraudatario); stressing how violence is committed not only during conflicts but also post-conflict, along a continuum of violence on the basis of gender that reproduces patterns of discrimination rooted in societies. The Tokyo Tribunal, the most “formal” among the examples provided in the book, despite some criticisms, had important media coverage and drew attention to “Japan's failure to offer meaningful redress” to the “comfort women issue” (p. 105).

The third part, “Legal Pluralism and Popular International Law”, explores the idea of “popular justice”, and the concluding chapter discusses the future of international PTs and the contribution they may have with regard to expanding the scope of existing categories of international wrongs (p. 262). Despite the non-binding nature of their outcomes, PTs have contributed to a collection of material that may be useful for formal procedures of inquiry and to draw international attention to the cases in question. Far from being illegitimate and ineffectual, PTs do play an important role in international law because they evidence “a faith in the power of international law to help bring about the acknowledgment of wrongs” (p. 273). I personally suggestedFootnote ¹ that the outcome of these Tribunals should be taken into consideration by international, regional, and domestic courts, as amici curiae briefs, which might significantly contribute to the evolution of a proceeding, and challenge from within the structures of power present in international law.