Legacy website of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

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The Registrar

John Hocking

Registrar of the ICTY since 15 May 2009
Born on 6 August 1957 in Australia

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Mr. John Hocking of Australia is a United Nations Assistant Secretary-General and has been the Registrar of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) since 15 May 2009. He was reappointed for this position by the former and the current United Nations Secretary-General, on 15 May 2013 and 15 May 2017, respectively.

From 2012 to 2016, he served concurrently as the first Registrar of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals and was entrusted by the then United Nations Secretary-General with its effective commencement.

Mr. Hocking has worked in international criminal justice since 1997. He joined the ICTY as a Legal Officer on its first multi-accused case, the Čelebići trial. He went on to become a Senior Legal Officer for the Appeals Chambers of the ICTY and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. Appointed as ICTY Deputy Registrar in 2004, he steered the Judicial and Legal Support Division until 2009, through the ICTY’s peak productivity period.

Prior to joining the United Nations, Mr. Hocking held legal and policy adviser positions domestically and internationally, including with the Organization for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) in Paris, the Australian Government's national multicultural television and radio broadcaster in Sydney, and the British Film Institute in London.

In the early years of his career, he worked with human rights barristers in London and as a legal associate to Justice Michael Kirby, former President of the Court of Appeal and Judge of the High Court of Australia.

Mr. Hocking has been admitted as a barrister at Lincoln’s Inn, London, and a barrister/solicitor at the Supreme Courts of Victoria and New South Wales in Australia. He holds a Master of Law with merit from the London School of Economics and Political Science, a Bachelor of Law from the University of Sydney, and a Bachelor of Science from Monash University in Melbourne.

Mr. Hocking is the author of publications on international humanitarian and criminal law. He is a native English speaker and is fluent in French.