On Thursday 25 May 2000, 10 members of the Finnish Parliamentary Constitutional Law Committee, led by the Head of the Committee, Mr. Ville Itälä, visited the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY).

The Committee members were accompanied by H.E. Mr. P. Harvola, Ambassador to The Netherlands and Mr. P. Hellman, Second Secretary, Embassy of Finland.

During the visit they met with the Registrar of the ICTY, Mrs. Dorothee de Sampayo Garrido-Nijgh, the Deputy Registrar, Mr. Jean-Jacques Heintz and the Registry’s Senior Legal Officer, Mr. David Tolbert. They also met with the Deputy Prosecutor of the ICTY, Mr. Graham Blewitt along with other senior members of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP).

This high-level visit underscores the quality and the level of support given to the Tribunal by Finland.

On 7 May 1997, Finland became the second country following Italy to sign an Agreement on the Enforcement of Sentences of the International Tribunal with the United Nations.

Mr. Ahtisaari, President of the Republic of Finland visited the Tribunal on 21 January 1999, and met with senior officials of Registry, Chambers and the OTP.

In addition, the Finnish authorities made, in November 1999, a voluntary contribution of 1 million Finnish Marks, equivalent to 178,728 US Dollars to be divided equally between the Outreach Programme and the Exhumations Project for the 2000 budget.

Finland is considering further assistance for the operations of the OTP currently being conducted in Kosovo.