| Press Release |
TRIBUNAL
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 30 June 2010
VE/MOW/1356e
Tribunal Welcomes Extension of Judges’ Mandates
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The Tribunal welcomes the resolution of the United Nations Security Council extending the terms of office of its 23 judges and the resolution’s recognition of the critical importance of staff retention to the expeditious completion of the Tribunal’s mandate.
The Security Council yesterday unanimously adopted resolution 1931(2010), by which the terms of office of five permanent judges in the Appeals Judges were extended until 31 December 2012 and the terms of office of eight permanent trial and ten ad litem judges were extended until 31 December 2011 or until the completion of the cases to which they are assigned if sooner. The Council also underlined its intention to extend, by 30 June 2011, the terms of office of the trial judges based on the Tribunal’s projected trial schedule.
In the same Resolution the Council noted the concern expressed by ICTY President, Judge Patrick Robinson that the alarming rate of staff attrition was impacting adversely on the expeditious completion of the Tribunal’s trials.
In his address before the Security Council on 18 June, President Robinson informed the Security Council of significant slippage that had occurred in the trial schedule of the Tribunal. While there were reasons for that slippage peculiar to individual cases, a common factor across all cases was the alarming rate of staff attrition.
The President advised the Security Council of the desperate need for urgent action to be taken to address this issue: “I can only repeat my warning that a failure to take action immediately on the rate of staff attrition at the Tribunal will have profound effects on the ability of the Tribunal to complete its mandate as expeditiously as possible. The situation will worsen.”
In Resolution 1931(2010) The Security Council calls upon the UN Secretariat and other relevant UN bodies to “continue to work with the Registrar of the International Tribunal in order to find practicable solutions to address this issue as the International Tribunal approaches the completion of its work.”
Since its inception 17 years ago, the Tribunal has indicted 161 persons for war crimes committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia. The proceedings against 124 individuals have been completed and proceedings against 37 are ongoing.
The latest completion strategy report estimates that all first instance trials will be completed by mid-2012 with the exception of that of Radovan Karadžić, which is expected to finish in late 2012. Most appellate work is scheduled to be completed by early 2014. Only two indictees remain at large – Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić. Both the Tribunal and the Security Council have called for their arrest.
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The full text of resolution 1931 (2010)
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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