| Press Release |
TRIBUNAL
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| (Exclusively for the use of the media. Not an official document) |
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The Hague, 23 September 2009
NJ/MOW/PR1334e
Report on the Needs of the Judiciary in the Region Launched
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| ICTY President Patrick Robinson, ODIHR Director Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, UNICRI Director Sandro Calvani, and Head of Human Rights Department of the OSCE Mission in BiH James Rodehaver |
The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and its partner organisations today launched a joint report on the capacity building needs of the local judiciaries dealing with war crimes proceedings in the region of the former Yugoslavia.
The report, titled “Supporting the Transition Process: Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Knowledge Transfer”, is a product of a year-long collaboration between the ICTY, OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR) and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI). It identifies the outstanding needs of judiciaries in the former Yugoslavia as well as the effectiveness of the capacity building efforts conducted so far.
Speaking at the launch, ICTY’s President, Judge Patrick Robinson underlined that partnerships with the national judiciaries form an integral part of the Tribunal’s completion strategy, as well as a key legacy goal.
“Justice, peace and the rule of law are goals that we all share. Capacity building of the national jurisdictions in the former Yugoslavia is crucial for achieving these aims, and we will keep working together with our partners in the region and elsewhere to help that process,” President Robinson said.
The Director of ODIHR, Ambassador Janez Lenarčič, the Director of UNICRI, Mr. Sandro Calvani and the Director of the Human Rights Department of the OSCE Mission to Bosnia and Herzegovina James Rodehaver also spoke at today’s launch.
The report examines seven distinct areas that are essential for war crimes proceedings in the region: knowledge and application of international criminal and humanitarian law in the domestic legal context, investigation and analysis, prosecution, defence, trial and appellate adjudication, outreach and victim/witness support.
During the consultations with local counterparts a number of priorities were identified for future action such as the production of transcripts from the ICTY’s trials in the languages of the region, primarily Bosnian, Croatian and Serbian, which the representatives of the jurisdictions in the region identified as having tremendous value to the domestic investigations and trials.
The recommendations of the report are intended to assist the activities of local authorities in the former Yugoslavia as well as international organizations supporting the capacity building process. The ICTY, ODIHR and UNICRI are hoping to secure funding from the European Union to implement the central recommendations of the report.
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International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
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