YouSaid · the spoken record

Jorda

lines on the record: 63
first: 2000-06-20
most recent: 2000-06-20
sittings or episodes: 1
sources: un-security-council

Every line below is reproduced as it was said and linked to the record it came from. Nothing here is summarised or generated. Directory · Search · Corrections

“The Tribunal is, as a result, confronted with the matter of "quantitative" management, even though it cannot yield as regards the exemplary and "qualitative" character of its proceedings. But no matter how exemplary our trials seek to be, they have nevertheless become increasingly complex as judges deal with questions and problems for which no ready-made solutions exist in international criminal law. The perspective of the Office of the Prosecutor should also be included. I would like to repeat that this body is completely independent of the judges, as it should be. Here I am referring to criminal policy, which we do not make, and which will be followed much more regularly in the months and years to come.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“The Tribunal has reached a turning point in its history. Its very success, like many internal or peripheral factors, has led us to propose a number of measures to those who have the political responsibility for deciding what is to become of the Tribunal in the future, namely, the Security Council. First, there are the evident and significant political changes in the Balkan region, changes that may even be said to be accelerating and whose impact must be measured. These are followed by other factors that must be considered, such as the increasingly assertive support of the international community; in response to our constant calls, it has ensured that we have ever-more active cooperation with regard to arrests, which are now increasing regularly.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“The Tribunal has indicted 96 individuals - 36 of whom are currently in detention - rendered 16 judgements on the merits of cases and issued several hundred interlocutory decisions and orders of various sorts, including some on very important matters for which there was no international precedent. Above all, however, I believe it has demonstrated what is most essential: the fact that an international judicial institution is both feasible and operational. Nonetheless, the time seems ripe to ask questions as to the Tribunal's future and to attempt to anticipate many of the difficulties that I have spoken about, and to which I shall return, which if not got under control and resolved may put at risk the accomplishment of its mission and compromise its very raison d'etre. We feel that the time is now right.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“As regards the strictly judicial record, and in View of the background on which this institution was created, I believe one would need to be a partial or very partisan observer - and it is true that there are still many of those today - not to credit the Tribunal with a certain amount of progress. I would like to recall here that - beginning with absolutely nothing, neither a body of judicial or procedural rules, no logistical capacities, no budget, facilities or accused persons - in six years the Tribunal has adopted a number of rules and directives, including the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, to which we shall return, the Detention Rules, and the directive on the assignment of defence counsel. It has set up its Detention Unit along with its Victims and Witnesses Section.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“But prosecuting and trying those responsible is nevertheless the raison d'etre of any criminal court. When it comes to an extraordinary type ofjustice, such as that rendered in The Hague, and because the most serious crimes committed against humanity are involved, that justice must also be especially exemplary. I think we would all agree on this. That justice must also conform to the highest standards of humanitarian international law in respect of both the victims and the accused. In short, it must move that law forward, a law that is constantly being reborn.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“Establishing the truth behind events and preventing all forms of revisionism have always been the underlying objectives of all international criminal justice systems, and in particular the system practised in The Hague. Much has been accomplished on that score. The atrocities committed and the plans that were their inspiration are no longer merely the subject of media accounts or of the descriptions of commissions of experts, which are always vulnerable to polemic. These events have entered into the realm of incontrovertible judicial evidence. Vukovar, Sarajevo, Srebrenica and so many other places where acts of cruelty took place have also become legal sites through the trials of the main persons accused who played the principal roles in what happened.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“Let me return to the responsibilities of the Tribunal. To judge those responsible for "ethnic cleansing", to render justice to the Victims, to prevent recidivism and to work on ensuring that history is not rewritten by blind revisionism was, and is, the immense task entrusted in November 1993 to the 11 judges from the five continents who were elected by the General Assembly. Let us be clear: the establishment of the Tribunal has not prevented recidivism. The fall of the Srebrenica enclave and, later, the hundreds of thousands of Albanians expelled from Kosovo are seared into the hearts of those who believe in the exemplary virtue of justice. Perhaps this weapon was not in and of itself sufficient, or perhaps it was too tentative, to succeed in driving away the deadly fumes of nationalism by threat alone.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“If one attempts to move away from the scepticism that surrounded this institution's first steps, recalling that the Tribunal was set up at a time when the conflict was still raging and when the leaders, the main players in the conflict, were - and to some extent are still - the heads of their Governments, one can objectively conclude that the Tribunal has fulfilled many of the hopes placed in it. But it is impossible to gloss over the difficulties encountered, which, in several respects, prevent me from feeling any kind of self-satisfaction. The opposite is true, I think. An unflinching review must be the starting point for suggesting ways to initiate reforms designed to transform a tentative success into a decisive and irreversible step in the progress of international humanitarian law.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“Behind this apparent paradox are several facts that must be taken into account in order to assess the need for this historic instrument of international justice to move once and for all out of the age of official recognition to that of universal credibility, the only one that is truly of importance to anyone seeking real progress in the field of human rights. More than six years after its establishment, has the Tribunal met these expectations? Has it achieved the missions entrusted to it?”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“More than that, however, this is their first attempt to project themselves into the future using as a starting point a critical evaluation of their strictly judicial activity. Our report does not supplant that of the Expert Group but is, in some respects, a forward-looking extension of it. The conclusion we have reached is that, on some points at least, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia must be reformed. Reform is needed because the Tribunal is about to succeed in its mission or, to be more precise, the missions entrusted to it in 1993 by the Security Council.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“As the Council is aware, that Group studied every aspect of the Tribunal's functioning for more than six months. The very significant and productive work of this Group gave rise to 46 particularly relevant recommendations, which have been of great benefit to the Tribunal. I can answer questions in this respect if the Council deems it advisable. Indeed, many of these recommendations have already been implemented, or will soon be. The Council may wonder why a further report is necessary or why new proposals are needed. It is because the perspective here is different, even complementary. The analytical and reflective work done by the judges is primarily judicial and consists of the judges' views of their own activities.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“I will be presenting these concerns on the basis of a report we prepared, which I had the honour of filing with the Secretary-General on 12 May last. This is what I wish to brief the Council on. Why are we seeking to improve, or even to reform, the ICTY? In the document presented in support of our proposals which was circulated to the Council, several answers to this question can be found. I will therefore limit my comments to emphasizing some of the most outstanding points. What we are saying is that the time has come to put forward proposals designed to make our Tribunal more effective. In this respect, we are taking up the objectives of the Expert Group mandated by the Secretary-General to evaluate the effectiveness of the Tribunal's activities, pursuant to the General Assembly's resolution of 18 December 1998.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source
“Mr. President, allow me first to express my gratitude for the honour you have bestowed on me by providing me with the opportunity to address the Council. I say this not just on my own behalf but also on behalf of all of the judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), who appointed me to my post in November 1999. This is yet another indication of the Council's unflagging interest in our work. Quite recently the Council received and heard the Prosecutor, Mrs. Del Ponte. She spoke of her concerns and of her criminal policy. Of course, her statement related mainly to her work. The Council will not be surprised, therefore, that shortly thereafter, the President of the ICTY has come here to speak in his capacity as a judge to share with the Council the judges' concerns about the functioning of the Tribunal.”
2000-06-20 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.4161 (2000) · source