In the beginning of the 1990-s there was growing interest on the part of the international community to establish international criminal tribunals meant to judge suspects charged with crimes perpetrated during armed conflicts. The International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) became the first tribunal in a number of international and quasi-international institutions that emerged after the end of the Cold War. It seems indispensable to examine the steps taken by the UN member states prior to the establishment of the ICTY in order to see the reasons why the decision to create such an institution had been taken.