After Ukraine

This third issue focuses on war crimes and international justice. A topic that has become dramatically relevant with the war in Ukraine, one that also allows us to recall and document the many other past and present scenarios in which such crimes have been committed, cases that have not been dealt with adequately or been sanctioned at the level of international justice, which lack the necessary attention and awareness. These cases pose many questions, starting with the question of whether it is really possible, has it ever been possible, to witness a war without crimes. And whether, therefore, it is not a matter of conceiving of war as a crime in itself, to be prevented and averted at all costs and in all ways, starting with a drastic reduction in military spending and the reconversion of war industries. The decisions taken by Western governments in recent months point in the opposite direction. Certainly it is not in the midst of a crisis, aggression and carnage such as those currently underway that such a paradigm shift can credibly take place. But it is precisely the Ukrainian crisis, together with the many other forgotten crises in Syria, Yemen, Libya, Myanmar, Palestine, in the Sahel and in so many other parts of Africa, which are constantly ravaged by war, the failed peace processes such as in Colombia, the conflicts and armed clashes of varying intensity, duration and lethality that have occurred around the world in the last year (over 103,000 with almost 150,000 victims) tell us that what is lacking is the courage to change course, to imagine and prepare different ways of resolving international disputes, working on a cultural and political level. Before it is too late.