YouSaid · the spoken record

Judge Robinson

lines on the record: 112
first: 2008-12-12
most recent: 2011-06-06
sittings or episodes: 6
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

“Judge Robinson: 1 do not wish to respond, but I was remiss in not congratulating Judge Khan on her election to the presidency. I would like to take the opportunity to do that now.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“We at the Tribunal have kept faith with the vision of the Security Council, and now we need the Council to reciprocate that faith and to give us the support that we desperately need to complete the work that the Council started.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“I therefore appeal to the international community to urgently work with the Tribunal in finding a viable solution to the enforcement-capacity issue. In conclusion, I want to emphasize the Tribunal's steadfast commitment to the expeditious conduct of its proceedings in full compliance with due-process standards. Everyone at the Tribunal is working as hard as he or she can to complete the mandate entrusted to us by the Security Council. The Tribunal is nearing the end of its mandate, but we still require the support of our parent body in the three areas that I have outlined here today: staff retention, the establishment of a victims' trust fund, and the enforcement of our sentences.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“The enforcement of sentences is an integral part of the criminal justice system administered by the Tribunal and as envisaged by the Security Council. If sentences pronounced by the Tribunal remain unenforced, the Tribunal cannot be said to have completed its mission. It is my duty to inform the Council that, at present, there is a significant risk that the Tribunal will not have the capacity required to enforce all its future sentences. Despite the Tribunal's persistent efforts to secure additional enforcement agreements, States have been reluctant to enter into such agreements. The completion of the Tribunal's mandate requires that the enforcement of all sentences be secured before the Tribunal closes.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“The Tribunal has signed enforcement-of- sentence agreements with 17 States, most of which have been enforcing our sentences for years. We are very grateful for that. However, some of those States have become hesitant to enforce further sentences and have called for more equal burden-sharing among Member States. Other States have signalled that they would enforce only a fixed number of sentences at any one time and have declined the Tribunal's requests to receive additional convicted persons. Considering that up to 40 additional sentences may have to be enforced over the next few years, depending upon the outcome of trials and appeals, it has become evident that the Tribunal's current enforcement capacity is rapidly approaching its limit.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“This would go some way towards bringing the position of the Tribunal - which, after all, is the first international criminal judicial institution established by the United Nations - somewhat closer to the International Criminal Court, which has a trust fund for its victims. The Tribunal cannot, through the rendering of its judgments alone, bring peace and reconciliation to the region. Other remedies should complement the criminal trials if lasting peace is to be achieved, and one such remedy should be adequate assistance to the victims for their suffering. I therefore call upon the Security Council to lend its support to those initiatives. The third area in which we need the support of the States members of the Council is the enforcement of sentences.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“These victims of the conflict in the former Yugoslavia have a right to compensation under international law for the crimes committed against them. I have previously called upon the Security Council to establish a trust fund for victims of crimes falling within the Tribunal's jurisdiction, and thus to breathe life into the General Assembly's Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power, which was adopted in November 1985. The Tribunal has been taking initiatives to have established some system for providing assistance and support to victims. I stress that those initiatives will not impose any obligations upon States to provide funding; rather, they contemplate voluntary contributions.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“I must be blunt: if something is not done to alleviate the staffing crisis, the Tribunal will be forever reporting slippages in its work schedule. The schedule will continue to have to be revised, and international criminal justice will be compromised. The second area in which we need the support of the Security Council involves the establishment of a victims' trust fund. In my previous reports to the Council, I raised the need for the compensation of victims and witnesses. More than 6,900 witnesses and accompanying persons from all over the world have been called to appear before the Tribunal. Without the courage of those witnesses to step forward and give evidence, there would be no trials, and impunity would reign.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“We would therefore ask Member States to endorse the position that the Tribunal should be granted a waiver so that it can tap this resource and expand the pool of qualified and experienced candidates. In making this request, I hasten to add that there would be absolutely no financial consequences to waiving the six-month rule, and former interns would have to apply through the regular Inspira staff-selection process. I raised the details of these matters with Member States last week, and so only mention them now very briefly. The Security Council, the Tribunal's parent body, must heed the call for action. We need the Council's influence and support if we are to complete the work with which it has tasked us.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“It has been almost a year since the Registrar submitted a list of personnel to be converted to permanent contracts. To date, no decision has been taken on the matter. In the meantime, staff members who are on that list have left. The delay in dealing with this matter may affect the rights of individuals concerned. The Central Review Panel, to which the requests have been referred, must issue a decision as soon as possible. Thirdly, the Tribunal has been fortunate to be able to attract a number of highly qualified interns. It would be a great benefit to our work if we were able to hire such interns in circumstances where they have become integral members of a trial or appeal team. Unfortunately, under the current regulations, interns cannot be hired within six months of the completion of their internships.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“In the long run, the retention of experienced staff is clearly the most efficient and cost-effective approach for the Tribunal, because the cost of replacing staff who leave is greater than that associated with providing the proposed retention incentive. This measure for the Tribunal to retain staff in an example of where we are actually spending to save. The second measure is the endorsement of the Tribunal's stand that the Office of Human Resources Management should reverse its position and approve our recommended list of staff members who should be converted to permanent contracts. The Tribunal could then proceed with the issuance of permanent contracts immediately, which would have a direct and dramatic impact on our staff retention.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“I realize that the Security Council does not deal directly with staffing issues, but it must be acknowledged that the Council is composed of influential Member States that are also members of the General Assembly and its Fifth Committee. With that in mind, I implore the Member States of the Council to use that influence in order to support three specific measures for the Tribunal. The first measure is a limited payment to staff members with more than five years of continuous service who remain until the abolition of their posts. Recognizing the economic benefit that a measure of this kind would be to the institution, the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions recommended a similar proposal in 2008.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“The Security Council responded to the pleas of the Tribunal for assistance in stemming the alarming rate of departures by passing resolution 1931 (2010) in June 2010 and resolution 1954 (2010) in December 2010, which noted the importance of the Tribunal being adequately staffed to complete its work expeditiously and called upon the Secretariat and other relevant United Nations bodies to continue to work with the Registrar of the Tribunal in order to find practicable solutions to address this issue as the Tribunal approaches the completion of its work. But, following those two resolutions, although there has been improvement in some areas, more robust action is required.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“To make matters worse, those who are left behind have to pick up the extra work of those who have left and must train replacement staff members, which only increases their workload and exacerbates the problem. Moreover, when staff members leave, it often takes many weeks until a new staff member can be recruited in order to fill the remaining gap. The staffing crisis has required me to become personally involved, in an unprecedented way, in specific staffing decisions on a weekly basis. Judges bring their Chambers' staffing problems to my attention. As a result, I have obtained an immense knowledge that might equip me some day for a career in human resources. But it may be questioned whether this is my proper role at the Tribunal.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“It would be irresponsible of me, as the President of the Tribunal, not to raise this issue with our parent body, the Security Council. I must tell the Council frankly that the staffing problem is so bad that it can now be described as chronic, systemic and endemic. We are in a staffing crisis. The stark reality is that, because the Tribunal is closing down, staff members are leaving. In a five-week period in April and May, eight members of the Chambers staff alone tendered their resignations. In the space of three days, three staff tendered their resignations. Those who are left behind witness their colleagues leaving for secure employment in other United Nations organs and institutions.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“In order to counterbalance these revised estimates, the Appeals Chamber has been employing and will continue to employ a variety of efficiency measures to expedite its proceedings, including the limitation of amendments to grounds of appeal, the organization of judgement drafting, and the prioritization of work. Having summarized the present status of our cases, I would now like to discuss three areas in which the Tribunal needs the support of its parent body, the Security Council. The first area in which we need the support of the Security Council is the retention of our highly qualified staff. The most serious challenge to the completion of the work of the Tribunal is the perpetual departures of our uniquely experienced staff for more secure employment elsewhere.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“This was and is entirely reasonable in light of the pressure to complete all trials, but it has necessarily resulted in the Appeals Chamber being extremely understaffed. The appeal schedule presented in my report has been revised in the light of a number of factors relevant to the pace of the Tribunal's appeal proceedings. Most significantly, the staffing crisis - which persists at the Tribunal - has led to revisions in the estimated times for the completion of all appeal proceedings. In response, a new and more empirical methodology has been applied to appeal projections. Although this approach has led to the revised estimates in the current report, the long-term aim of the revisions is to present the Security Council with timelines that it is hoped will largely remain the same until the end of the work of the Tribunal.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“The Tribunal continues to take all measures possible to expedite its trials, without sacrificing due process. Over the years, the Tribunal has continually kept its procedures under review and has introduced a variety of reforms in order to improve its work. These reforms are detailed in my report and include the use of e-Court and e-Filing, amendments to the Rules of Procedure and Evidence, and case management techniques. We face a particular problem with staffing in the Appeals Chamber, which is ultimately responsible - as members of the Council know - for writing the law of the Tribunal. For some time now, staff have been diverted to the Trial Chambers in an effort to complete the Tribunal's trial proceedings.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“I am pleased to report that in three cases - the Bordevie case, the Stanisie and Simatovic' case, and the Stanisie and Zupljanin case - the estimates from the last report (S/2010/413) have been maintained. In the context of the challenges facing the Tribunal, in particular those related to staffing, the maintenance of the estimates in these three trials is a remarkable achievement worth mentioning. The detailed reasons for the delays in the other trials are set out in the current report (S/2011/316, annex I). During the reporting period, one judgement on review was issued. Appeals from four trial judgements are currently pending before the Appeals Chamber, and the judges of the Appeals Chamber remained fully engaged in appeals from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, rendering two judgements and hearing three cases in Arusha.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“The Tribunal conducted proceedings in nine trials concurrently by doubling-up judges and staff so that they were working on more than one case at a time. The Bordevie trial and the Gotovina et al. trial were brought to a close. The Perisie trial is anticipated to be completed this year. Six trials are anticipated to conclude in 2012, and the Karadzic' trial should be completed in 2014. Following the criticism of the progress of the Tribunal's trials made by members of the Security Council during my last visit to the United Nations in December 2010 (see S/PV.6434), I wrote to the judges and convened a plenary to discuss the matter. I stressed the need for every measure to be taken to expedite the work of the Tribunal and to ensure that there was no slippage in the schedule.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“As members of the Council know, the Tribunal has spearheaded the fight against impunity through the corpus of law it has developed in both the substantive and the procedural areas of international humanitarian law and international criminal law. With the trial of Mr. Mladic', the Tribunal will be removing yet another brick from the wall of impunity. Questions have been asked as to the impact of the trial of Mr. Mladie on the Tribunal's completion strategy. That there will be an impact is clear, but it is too early to say with certainty What the precise impact will be. During the reporting period, the Tribunal not only faced unprecedented challenges, but also achieved unprecedented advancement in the implementation of its completion strategy.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“One accused - Goran Hadzie - remains at large. To date, the Tribunal has concluded proceedings against 126 of the 161 persons indicted by the Prosecutor. On 26 May, Ratko Mladie was arrested in Serbia, having evaded justice for 16 years. He was indicted in 1995 by the Office of the Prosecutor for genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed from 1992 to 1995 during the conflict in Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 31 May, he was transferred to The Hague, where he will face trial. The arrest of Mr. Mladie was a milestone in the Tribunal's history and brings us closer to the successful completion of our mandate, with Goran Hadiie remaining the sole fugitive.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“Judge Robinson: It is an honour for me to appear before the Security Council today in my capacity as President of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and to do so under the Presidency of His Excellency Mr. Nelson Messone, the Ambassador of Gabon. I would also like to take this opportunity to express my sincere appreciation to Portugal as the Chair of the Security Council's Informal Working Group on International Tribunals, as well as to the Office of Legal Affairs, for their cooperation with the Tribunal in respect of preparations for the commencement of the Residual Mechanism and the transfer of the residual functions of the Tribunal to the Mechanism. At the close of the reporting period, 16 persons are in appeal proceedings, 14 persons are on trial, and four are at the pre-trial stage.”
2011-06-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6545 (2011) · source
“What will be remembered is the justice that was achieved and the courage of those who were willing to do what was necessary to make justice a living and breathing reality.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“Those of us at the Tribunal who go to work each day and who have faithfully remained at our posts desperately need our parent, the Security Council, to stand by us until we complete the work that the Council started back in 1993. We need the Council to stand by us as we implement its vision of a world that is ruled not by might, but by right. I promise that future generations will not look back at the work of the Security Council and the Tribunal and wonder why the completion of a particular trial was delayed. Rather, our children and grandchildren will admire the members of the Security Council, the Tribunal and indeed the United Nations as a whole for our willingness to be bold, to change the world, to transform it into a safer and more just place to live, and to achieve our greatest potential as human beings.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“None of us would want to live in a world where people did not get what they deserve but what they were able to take. All of our lives would be much darker without the light of justice to guide us on our way. We at the Tribunal are fully aware of its ad hoc and temporary status. I know I speak for all of us at the Tribunal when I say that, no matter what we do in our future professional lives, we will always look back with nostalgia tinged with gratitude and pride at our tenure with the Tribunal as a time when we were able to make a modest difference in the world; as a time when we were privileged to be a positive force in the universe. But our work is not finished yet.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“They came to the Tribunal to work in a place where they could use their skills to build a more just world where the guilty are punished, the innocent go free and the victims have their day in court. In short, they wanted to help fashion a world where each person gets what he or she deserves. That is the very character of justice. If those staff members are the ministers of justice, then the members of the Security Council are the architects of that justice, for it is the Council members who created the Tribunal in order to stamp out impunity and bring justice to the former Yugoslavia. This brings me to the question of why justice matters. Justice matters because, in a world without justice, right would be determined by might and the weak would be at the mercy of the strong.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“I walk past a prosecutor from the United Kingdom nervously practicing her oral argument outside the courtroom. Inside the courtroom, a defence counsel from France is consulting with her client before the hearing begins. As I near the corridor of the judges, I peek in on a legal officer from Russia working hard to complete a judgement that is to be rendered soon. I see faces of the young and the old, men and women, people from the East and from the West. Despite their differences, they are all interconnected by a common thread - they are all ministers of justice. Theirs are the varied faces of the Tribunal that few ever get to see. They all came to the Tribunal because they wanted to be a part of the bold new era ushered in by the Security Council in May 1993.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“In carrying out that function, every staff member of the Tribunal is committed to playing his or her part to the very best of his or her ability. It is simply wonderful to witness the United Nations working as a family to put into practice the ideal of justice upon which the United Nations was founded. I travel to New York twice a year to give the Council an assessment of the progress of our work, but it really is a shame that the members of the Security Council do not have the opportunity to see the Tribunal that I see when I arrive at work in the morning. When I enter the Tribunal in the early hours of the morning, I pass a security officer from the United States reverently raising the United Nations flag. I say hello to a financial analyst from China who is working on our next budget submission to the General Assembly.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“But it is precisely in difficult times that we must be the most vigilant in safeguarding the role ofjustice in our society. We must not lose sight of the reason why the Security Council created the Tribunal in the first place. It was the German philosopher Immanuel Kant who posed the issue in the starkest of terms, stating that the greatest problem for the human species is that of attaining a civil society that can administer universal justice. Although Kant said those words over 200 years ago, we are engaged in the same struggle today. Courts are vulnerable institutions because they are dependent upon other governmental entities for their very existence. What ultimately safeguards the ability of courts to function is the consensus of the community that justice is a quality worth protecting in its purest form.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“In order to build a lasting peace, justice must not only be retributive; it must also be restorative. The International Criminal Court and the 114 States that have ratified the Rome Statute accept the importance of compensation to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and the United Nations must do the same. I therefore call upon the Council to support the establishment of a victims' trust fund in order to complement the Tribunal's criminal trials by providing victims with the necessary resources to rebuild their lives. In making this proposal, the Tribunal is extremely sensitive to the financial difficulties being experienced by Member States, and it has not escaped our notice that, lately, the importance of the concept of justice has come under fire.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“This recommendation was that Tribunal staff be given priority in consideration of eligibility for conversion to permanent contracts. However, OHRM. has advised that no such priority will be given. Indeed, it has referred all recommendations for permanent contracts by the Tribunal to a central review board on the basis that it did not agree with any of them. OHRM. has made no secret of the fact that the recommendations are likely to languish with the review board for some time. I have to say that, somewhat surprisingly, the Secretary-General's bulletin on the consideration of permanent contracts provides for no such review procedure. Turning to other matters, I would like to bring to the Council's attention again the need to compensate the Victims of the armed conflicts in the former Yugoslavia.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“also told us that the purpose of the Staff- Management Coordination Committee's recommendation was to provide an incentive to staff by way of an indemnity payment if and when contracts were terminated prior to expiration. But it was OHRM's position that such indemnity had to be covered by the Tribunal's existing resources and that no request for additional funding to cover indemnity payments could be made. And herein lies the problem. The Tribunal does not have the resources, nor can it find them, to implement resolution 63/256. Again, the Tribunal is offered a measure that on its face seems to provide a way of stemming the rapid tide of staff attrition, but in reality is entirely meaningless. Moreover, the second recommendation of the Staff-Management Coordination Committee has also been rendered meaningless.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“Most recently, in June 2010, the Staff- Management Coordination Committee - a body comprised of the Office of Human Resource Management (OHRM), staff unions and United Nations administrators - made two recommendations regarding the Tribunals, which were approved by the Deputy Secretary-General on behalf of the Secretary- General. One of those recommendations was that our staff be given two-year fixed-term appointments, subject to another extension of two years. Following consultation at New York Headquarters in October, OHRM. clarified that it was fully within the authority of the Registrar to issue contracts to staff for a period of two years, regardless of approved budgetary funds - a position contrary to its view that General Assembly resolution 63/256 only authorizes contracts in conformity with approved budgetary funds. OHRM.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“On the issue of our debilitating staff attrition, I would like to sincerely thank the Security Council for responding to the pleas of the Tribunal for assistance by adopting resolution 1931 (2010) in June, which noted the importance of the Tribunal being adequately staffed to complete its work expeditiously and called upon the Secretariat and other relevant United Nations bodies to continue to work with the Registrar to find practicable solutions to address this issue as the Tribunal draws to a close. But that resolution must be translated into action, and unfortunately it has not. The confusion that started with General Assembly Resolution 63/256 not being implemented due to budgetary constraints continues.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“Although the trial schedule is estimated by reference to factors that are within the Tribunal's control, there are important influences upon the schedule that are not within our control, such as witness intimidation, the failure of witnesses to appear, the illness of accused, the death of defence counsel, the complexities associated with self- represented accused, the discovery of new evidence, and perennial staff attrition.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“The Tribunal continues to take all measures possible to expedite its trials, without sacrificing due process. In this regard, I must tell the Council that the judges have reported feeling extreme pressure to expedite the work of the Tribunal. I must also say that this troubles me because judges are entitled to work in an environment free from all external pressures so that their independence is not compromised or does not appear to be compromised. Despite Herculean efforts to expedite our proceedings, some estimates from the last reporting period have had to be amended.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“Bordevic', Gotovina et al., Perisic' and the Haradinaj partial retrial will conclude in 2011. Five trials - Prlic' et al., Seselj, Stanisie and Simatovic', Stanisic' and Zupljanin, and Tolimir - are anticipated to conclude in 2012. The final case - that of Karadeie - should be completed at the end of 2013. Two appeal judgements were rendered, and appeals from three trial judgements are currently pending before the Appeals Chamber. All appeals are still scheduled to be completed by the end of 2014, although the recent, unavoidable delays in the Karadeic' case suggest that this date will have to be reassessed at an appropriate time. The judges of the Appeals Chamber also continued to work at maximum capacity on appeals from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“My remarks today will be brief, as the details of the measures that the Tribunal has undertaken to complete its mandate are set out in the written biannual report, which has been duly submitted to the Security Council (S/2010/588). At the close of the reporting period, 13 persons were in appeal proceedings and 18 persons were on trial. Two accused, Ratko Mladie and Goran Hadzie, remain at-large. To date, we have concluded proceedings against 125 of the 161 persons indicted by the Tribunal. During the reporting period, the Tribunal conducted proceedings in 10 trials concurrently by doubling-up judges and staff so that they were working on more than one case at a time. The second of the Tribunal's three multi-accused trials, Prosecutor v. Popovie et al., was brought to a close.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“Judge Robinson: It is an honour for me to appear before the Security Council today in my capacity as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, and particularly to do so under the presidency of the United States. I would also like to express my sincere appreciation for the support shown for the work of the Tribunal by the outgoing members of the Security Council: Austria, Japan, Mexico, Turkey and Uganda. In particular, the Tribunal is grateful to Austria, as Chair of the Security Council Informal Working Group on International Tribunals, for the substantial progress that has been in the development of a residual mechanism.”
2010-12-06 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6434 (2010) · source
“I therefore again urge the Council to actively work with the other relevant organs of the United Nations for meaningful retention measures as a matter of urgency and specifically in the ways I have mentioned here today.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“In closing, I wish to reiterate that we at the Tribunal are dedicated to completing the work entrusted to us so that peace, justice and reconciliation may prevail in the region of the former Yugoslavia. We at the Tribunal have accepted this responsibility from the Security Council because we believe in this mission. However, we need more support from our parent organ, the Security Council. We are hanging by a thread and we need Council members to throw us a lifeline. And I have to say this very bluntly: Not helping us with staff retention measures is counterproductive because trials will take longer, appeals will take longer and the life of the Tribunal will be much longer.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“The final issue that I wish to bring to the attention of Council members is the mandate of the Judges, a matter currently pending before the Council. Just as staff need job security, so do our Judges, and I urge the Council to bear in mind the benefits to the Tribunal's completion strategy of granting mandates to the judges in line with the projections I have provided to the Council through my letter to the Secretary- General up to 2013 in respect of those judges whose trial and appeals will be ongoing at that time, and up to 2014 for the remaining appeal judges. It is simply not rational to assign judges to cases that will last longer than their mandates.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“In order to contribute to a lasting peace in the former Yugoslavia, justice must not only be retributive; it must also be restorative. The International Criminal Court and the 11] States that have ratified the Rome Statute accept the importance of compensation to victims of war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide, and the United Nations must, I submit, do the same. I therefore call upon the Council to take action and to establish, as the International Criminal Court has, without further delay a trust fund for victims of crimes falling within the Tribunal's jurisdiction to complement the Tribunal's criminal trials by providing victims with the necessary resources to rebuild their lives.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“The Working Group submitted its report on 21 May and recommended a number of reforms to the Tribunal's procedures. The Judges discussed these reforms on 7June at an extraordinary plenary session convened expressly for that purpose. The Judges are now actively integrating these reforms into their ongoing trials. I note that the problem of staff attrition is so serious that, in its report, the Working Group expressed its greatest concern over the effect that staff turnover has on the speed of trials and on the Chambers' ability to process the evidence and motions in their cases. The Working Group recommended that the management of the Tribunal do all that it can to keep experienced staff. Another matter I again bring to the Council's attention is that of compensation to victims.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“These are all matters that I, as President of the Tribunal, have been fighting for, but to be successful the Tribunal needs strong political support. I urge the Council to take measures now and to ensure that action is taken on these issues. 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 the face of the slippage in the trial schedule, the Tribunal has taken immediate measures to try as much as possible to mitigate that slippage. I reconstituted the Working Group on Speeding Up Trials to undertake a third review of the Tribunal's practices in order to assess whether further improvements could be implemented in our work.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“We want the Security Council to help us by using the influence and weight it undoubtedly has within the United Nations. The Council should adopt a statement acknowledging the problem faced by the Tribunal in retaining experienced staff at this time and requesting all the relevant United Nations bodies, including the administration, to adopt appropriate staff-retention measures. A third measure that can be adopted to assist the Tribunal in retaining its staff, and thus completing its work, is the end-of-service grant recommended by the International Civil Service Commission, which is still pending in the Fifth Committee. Finally, the resolution of the new continuing contractual regime and the inclusion of Tribunal staff in that regime would have a tremendously beneficial impact upon the Tribunal's retention of its essential staff.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“This state of confusion would be delightfully risible did it not have such painful and dire consequences for the running of the Tribunal at this critically important stage of its life. What is needed now is a pragmatic solution to extricate ourselves from the institutional muddle into which we have been immersed by the differences between the General Assembly and the administration. I ask the Security Council to assist the Tribunal as much as it can in resolving the interpretation and implementation of that General Assembly resolution, for what is certain is that, in the absence of the implementation of a measure of the kind set out in the resolution to assist in the retention of staff, the dates for the completion of the Tribunal's work will stretch further and further into the future.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“It cannot offer contracts in line with prevailing trial schedules, and therefore critical staff cannot be retained. In effect, the odd result is that the United Nations will not be implementing the resolution of the General Assembly in accordance with its plain interpretation. This must have a consequence for the management and efficiency of the Organization as a whole. What we are now being told from high authority is that all that the resolution means is that the Tribunal can offer contracts, but that it must do so within the envelope of funds appropriated under the budget. But the Tribunal was always able to do that, and a resolution of the General Assembly is not necessary to tell the Tribunal that it can do something that it has always been able to do.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“I was advised by every person I consulted that it allowed the Tribunal to offer contracts in line with the trial schedules. On its face, this is clearly what the resolution authorizes, but the Tribunal cannot implement it without a clear authorization from the Controller's Office because fiscal responsibility to the Registrar is only delegated authority. Now I ask: How can the General Assembly, the principal organ of a body like the United Nations whose membership is worldwide, adopt a resolution unambiguous in language and purpose and on the basis of which constituent bodies such as the Tribunal make plans, only to be told by the budgetary authorities in New York that the resolution does not mean what it clearly says? The Tribunal has been severely prejudiced by this misstep in the United Nations.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source