in effect make achieving any viable justice difficult. Observers of transitional justice application and processes, such as Makau W. Mutua (2000) emphasized on the difficulties of achieving actual justice through one of the most prominent mechanisms of transitional justice, trials. Commenting on the international tribunal established in Rwanda in 1994, he argued that it "serves to deflect responsibility, to assuage the consciences of states which were unwilling to stop the genocide... [and] largely masks the illegitimacy of the Tutsi regime". In sum, Matua argues that criminal tribunals such as those in Rwanda and Yugoslavia are "less meaningful if they cannot be applied or enforced without prejudice to redress transgressions or unless they have a deterrent effect such as behavior modification on the part of would be perpetrators". More recently, Lyal S. Sunga has argued that unless truth commissions are set up and conducted according to international human rights law, international criminal law and international humanitarian law, they risk conflicting or undermining criminal prosecutions, whether these prosecutions are supposed to be carried out at the national or international levels. He contends that this risk is particularly pronounced where truth commissions employ amnesties, and especially blanket amnesties to pardon perpetrators of serious crimes. On the other hand, criminal prosecutions should be better tailored to focus on victims and to place events in proper perspective. Sunga therefore proposes ten principles for making truth and national reconciliation commissions fully complementary to criminal prosecutions in a way that conforms fully to international law. This type of critique of transitional justice mechanisms could cause some scholars and policymakers to wonder which of the objectives outlined above are most important to achieve, and even if they are achievable. Truth commissions could be characterized as a second-best alternative and also an affront to rule of law, because of the possibility that amnesty and indemnities will be made exchange for truth. These sets of challenges can raise critical questions for transitional justice in its application. Questions and issues, such as: Can the "truth" ever really be established? Can all victims be given compensation or a public platform? Can all perpetrators be held accountable? Or is it sufficient to acknowledge that atrocities were committed and that victims should be compensated for their suffering? Also, one might argue that too narrow a focus on the challenges of the field runs the risk of making transitional justice seem meaningless. However transitional justice