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

“The background to this resolution was that the Tribunal had proposed a staff retention bonus. This was rejected, and instead resolution 63/256 incorporated a non-financial measure. Yet, it has not been implemented because the budgetary authorities at United Nations Headquarters do not consider that the Tribunal can offer contracts to staff that are not tied to approved budgetary submissions. As I explain in the report, when this resolution was brought to my attention by the Tribunal's Staff Union, I went to the International Civil Service Commission - which was involved in the process leading up to the adoption of the resolution - and to members of the Fifth Committee and asked them to explain to me what the resolution meant.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“But I fear that our staff will, at the end of the day, still suffer discrimination and be denied permanent contracts on discriminatory grounds. I urge the Council to assist the Tribunal in ensuring that this does not 10-41106 happen. It would not only be of great detriment to our staff, but it would have profound effects on the Tribunal's ability to complete its mandate as expeditiously as possible, because staff would continue to leave. A second measure that can be adopted relates to General Assembly resolution 63/256 of December 2008, which authorized the Tribunal to offer contracts to staff in line with planned post reductions and the prevailing trial schedules. This was a measure adopted by the General Assembly to allow the Tribunal to offer a measure of job security to staff.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“I know from talking to staff that the granting of permanent contracts would be a tremendous incentive for them to stay at the Tribunal until the completion of their work. But while many of our staff have accrued the right to be considered for permanent contracts under the rules and regulations of the United Nations, I have had to fight exceedingly hard to ensure that that right is respected. It had first been posited that our staff be excluded on the grounds that they are staff of a United Nations institution with a finite mandate and not staff of the United Nations as such. Following extensive lobbying on my part against this discrimination towards our staff, their right to be considered for permanent contractual status is now being respected.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“I must therefore warn the Council that as the report demonstrates, this factor is having an adverse impact on the expeditious completion of all but one of our trials. And it will worsen. Our trials will be further delayed by staff attrition. There are measures that can be taken, and the first is the granting of permanent contracts to our staff, which would provide them with an incentive to remain with the Tribunal until the completion of their work. They would have the security of knowing that, if the United Nations cannot place them in another position by the time their posts expire, they will nonetheless be compensated and that compensation will buy them the time they need to find another position.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“That has created a tremendous burden on both staff and judges, and it has become even more onerous with the constant departure of the Tribunal's highly experienced staff for more secure employment elsewhere. Staff attrition and the desperate need for urgent action in stemming that flow are factors that I have repeatedly stressed to the utmost degree in my previous presentations to the Security Council and the General Assembly. Quite frankly, I am at a loss as to what more might be done or said on my part to turn the Council's attention to this issue. I reiterate that staff are leaving the Tribunal in droves - three every five days - for greater job security with other institutions, often within the United Nations itself.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“case, the Stanisie and Simatovic' case, the Stanisie and Zupljanin case, the Karadeic' case and the Seselj case could not have foreseen the discovery of new evidence by the national authorities of Serbia, namely 18 military notebooks of Ratko Mladic', allegedly written during the period 1991 to 1995. The discovery of that new evidence has the potential to substantially impact the projected completion dates of seven of the nine ongoing trials. Thus, I must emphasize that the schedule I present today is a forecast subject to change. Yet another very significant reason for slippage in the Tribunal's trial schedule is the alarming rate of staff attrition, coupled with the fact that throughout the reporting period, the Tribunal has been running 10 trials simultaneously, with staff levels appropriate for six trials.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“At most, it is a forecast subject to constant change depending on the course that a trial takes. The anticipated completion dates in the trial schedule are estimated on the basis of factors within the Tribunal's control. But unforeseeable factors beyond the control of the Tribunal emerge, resulting in unavoidable delays. For example, it would have been impossible to anticipate the death of the lead counsel in Stanisic' and Simatovic'; the volte-face of Seselj in deciding at this stage to raise a defence; the extensive litigation in Gotovina et al., resulting from the investigations carried out by the Croatian Government; or an application by the prosecution to amend the indictment to add significant new charges on the eve of the trial, as happened in the Tolimir case. But most significantly, the Prlie et al.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“It has managed to do that by, inter alia, doubling up judges and staff so that they are working on more than one case simultaneously. Nevertheless, there has been significant slippage in the trial schedule. There are valid and unavoidable reasons for that slippage, and the report clearly identifies all the factors in relation to each trial that have led to revised estimates of completion. It will not surprise the Council to learn that the doubling-up of judges and staff are contributory factors. The scheduling of hearings, deliberations and consultations has been complicated by the need to take into account the obligations of judges and staff to other cases. It must be underscored that the trial schedule produced by the Tribunal is not akin to a bus schedule.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (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 Mexico. I congratulate Mexico on its assumption of the presidency of the Council, and I thank the President for the attention that he has given to matters pertaining to the Tribunal. As the Tribunal's completion strategy report (see S/2010/270) bears witness, the Tribunal has continued to work as efficiently and as expeditiously as possible in accordance with the highest of international due process. The Tribunal has now commenced all of the trials pending on its docket and conducted proceedings in 10 trials simultaneously in its three court rooms.”
2010-06-18 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6342 (2010) · source
“I do emphasize, however, that a major obstacle to completing that task is the continuing flight from justice of Ratko Mladie and Goran Hadzie, and I urge the Council to seek ways to facilitate their immediate arrest. The staff retention issue also remains critical to the Tribunal's capacity to expedite its operations. Again, we urge the Council to actively work with other relevant organs of the United Nations for meaningful retention measures as a matter of urgency and in the two specific ways I have mentioned today.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“It is anticipated that more than 200 persons will participate in the conference, with representatives from the Tribunal, the Security Council Working Group on the ad hoc Tribunals, the Rule of Law Unit, national jurisdictions in the former Yugoslavia, victims' groups, organs of the European Union and many others. The conference is being funded by voluntary pledges, and invitations have been issued to all members of the Security Council. In closing, I would like to reiterate that we at the Tribunal remain dedicated to completing the work entrusted to us so that peace, justice and reconciliation may prevail in the region of the former Yugoslavia.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“The goals of the conference are to consult with stakeholders and generate interest and support for the Tribunal's legacy strategy in the former Yugoslavia, to foster contacts and partnerships between the Tribunal and different players, to share and gather information on what is being done by different actors in relation to capacity-building in the region, and to promote the coordination and consolidation of all of those efforts. The conference will also provide an opportunity for countries of the former Yugoslavia and the broader international community to communicate to the Tribunal their ideas and expectations of its legacy. That dialogue will contribute to the work of the Tribunal in developing its comprehensive legacy strategy.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Together with those institutions, we are now preparing an ambitious project to guarantee that the national justice systems in the region have the capacity to deal with their growing war crimes caseload as the Tribunal heads towards its final days. Generous funding from the European Commission is expected for this timely undertaking. I also urge the Security Council to support the national jurisdictions in the region as their capacity to continue our work is a key aspect of the Tribunal's legacy in the former Yugoslavia. Inspired by broader United Nations efforts to coordinate rule of law activities, the Tribunal will convene a two-day conference at The Hague on 23 and 24 February 2010.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“While primarily focusing on its core business, the Tribunal has also been diligently working towards the strengthening of competent national judicial systems in the former Yugoslavia in accordance with Security Council resolutions 1503 (2003) and 1534 (2004). I am proud to report that the Tribunal recently published a comprehensive report entitled "Supporting the Transition Process: Lessons Learned and Best Practices in Knowledge Transfer" evaluating the needs of the domestic judiciaries in the region. This report was prepared jointly with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and has been very well received in important quarters as groundbreaking.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Moreover, hundreds of exhibits will need to be examined for confidential information. While this is an onerous undertaking, when it is considered that the Tribunal has completed proceedings against 121 accused in 87 cases and still has 10 cases to complete against 25 accused, it will be appreciated that this task will greatly ease the judicial workload of the residual mechanism. The more material that is made public, the less need there will be for national jurisdictions to petition the residual mechanism for access to confidential material and for judges to issue decisions on those requests.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“We have been asked to declassify, to the greatest extent possible, all the records of the Tribunal. This is a mammoth undertaking, which we have begun to tackle in the comprehensive and organized declassification project. This project will require significant resources to be properly implemented. To give the Council an idea of the work involved, the first case being examined is that of Tadic'. All of the material has to be examined to identify the confidential hearings, witnesses, filings and exhibits. There are 1,304 pretrial transcript pages, 9,300 trial pages, 682 appeal pages, 65 confidential filings and 126 protected witnesses. All of those witnesses will need to be contacted to determine whether they oppose the lifting of confidential protection orders.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“On 21 May 2009, the Secretary-General published his report on the administrative and budgetary aspects of the options for possible locations for the archives of the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the seat of the residual mechanism(s) for the Tribunals (S/2009/258). On 8 October 2009, the Secretary- General advised the Tribunal of the Security Council's endorsement of those recommendations and requested that the Tribunal comply with recommendation (m) in paragraph 259 and report in detail on the Tribunal's implementation of the tasks identified therein. In my written report, I have addressed each of these tasks separately. But there is one task that I wanted to bring to the Council's attention here today.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“However, in circumstances where the State is unable to compensate the victim, the Declaration proposes that other funds be established for this purpose. This was a matter that former Tribunal President Jorda brought to the attention of the Security Council in November 2000, recommending to the Council and to the Secretary-General that methods of compensating victims of crimes in the former Yugoslavia, notably a claims commission, be considered by the appropriate organs of the United Nations. I therefore implore the Council to take official steps to support the establishment of such a claims commission as a means of complementing the Tribunal's work. I now wish to turn to another matter - that of the work being done by the Tribunal in preparation for the establishment of a residual mechanism.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Currently, there is no effective mechanism by which those victims can seek compensation for their injuries, despite the fact that their right to such compensation is firmly rooted in international law. And I refer to instruments such as the General Assembly's 1985 Declaration of Basic Principles of Justice for Victims of Crime and Abuse of Power and the Basic Principles and Guidelines on the Right to a Remedy and Reparation for Victims of Gross Violations of International Human Rights Law and Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law. Justice is not only about punishing perpetrators, it is also about restoring dignity to victims by ensuring that they have the concrete means to rebuild their lives. Clause 13 of the General Assembly's Declaration itself identifies sources of compensation, including the offender or national funds.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“And so I appeal to the international community to exercise foresight by assisting the tribunal with measures to retain its staff and reduce the burden on the institution imposed by constant staff recruitment. As the Council is no doubt aware, during my recent address to the General Assembly (A/64/PV.16), I proposed the establishment of a claims commission to compensate the victims of crimes committed during the wars in the former Yugoslavia. Since I became President of the Tribunal, I have had occasion to meet a multitude of victims' groups, and they have expressed anguish at the failure of the international community to provide any kind of compensation for their suffering. Indeed, they feel that they have been forgotten.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“And it would be especially wrong for the United Nations to distance itself from the needs of the staff of such an institution, when it is in the final stages of its work, on formalistic grounds based on the so-called separateness and temporary character of that institution. That approach would result in the kind of injustice and discrimination that is antithetical not only to the lofty and noble purposes of the United Nations itself, but also to the inspiring objectives of that very institution. The staff of the Tribunal should not be treated as though they were staff of other nations. They are in fact staff of the United Nations and should not be separated from the benefits of United Nations staff by artificial administrative barriers.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Secondly, of great benefit to our staff would be their inclusion in the regime of continuing contracts. Continuing appointments will offer some of the stability that we sorely need, and I urge the Council to ensure that this new regime, if adopted, is made applicable to Tribunal staff. However, the consultations I have had about these matters have left me somewhat uneasy. But it would be wrong - completely wrong - for a body like the United Nations to abandon the staff members of an institution that it had set up in a time of crisis to assist in the restoration of justice, peace and democracy in a troubled region, and which has, by any reasonable assessment, rendered invaluable and trailblazing service not only to that region, but to the international community as a whole.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“I acknowledge the efforts made by the General Assembly to assist the Tribunal through resolution 63/256 of 24 December 2008, which authorizes the Tribunal to offer critical staff longer contracts, thereby alleviating some of their job insecurity. But more needs to be done, and there are two areas in which we could really use the help of the Security Council. First, the International Civil Service Commission has recommended an end of service grant applicable to those staff separating from the organization upon completion of their contracts, provided they have served continuously for 10 years. Many of our staff have served over 10 years, and the end of service grant would provide them with a concrete incentive to remain until the completion of the Tribunal's work.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“In a recent survey of 451 staff members, 57 per cent stated that they were actively seeking employment elsewhere. If we consider the results from one specific group of critical staff members - the legal support staff of the Office of the Prosecutor and the Chambers - 70 per cent were actively seeking employment elsewhere, 24 per cent stated that they felt exhausted by their current work load, and close to 50 per cent stated that they felt they have to work too fast. The reality of the situation is that there is a very real threat to the Tribunal's ability to conduct its work 3 as expeditiously and fairly as possible during the remaining years of its mandate.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“The failure to bring these two men to justice will tarnish the Security Council's historic contribution to peacebuilding in the former Yugoslavia. I also wish to stress, as I have done before, that their immediate arrest would obviate the need for a residual trial function. It is not too late to arrest and try these fugitives, and I hope that the Security Council and Member States will act decisively to achieve that goal. The other major issue on which I request the Council's assistance today is staff retention. It is a matter that requires immediate attention. We are currently losing, on average, about one staff member per working day to more secure employment, often to other judicial institutions in The Hague, such as the International Criminal Court and the Special Tribunal for Lebanon.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“At my last briefing, I reported that contempt proceedings were sapping the strength of the Tribunal and diverting us from our main objective - the fair and expeditious completion of our trials and appeals for persons charged with serious violations of international humanitarian law. I am happy to inform the Council that we have made progress on this front, rendering two contempt trial judgments and two contempt appeal judgments. We have also amended the rules of procedure and evidence to expedite contempt proceedings. As can be seen, our efforts to implement the completion strategy are coning to fruition and the end of all trials is in sight. But one serious hurdle remains. I refer to the continued flight from justice of Ratko Mladie and Goran Hadzic'.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“This revised estimate for the Karadzic' appeal results from the decision of the Trial Chamber to assign counsel following the refusal of the self- represented accused to attend the trial. The Trial Chamber has given the assigned counsel five months to prepare, and the trial will resume in March 2010. The redeployment of resources from trials to appeals is part of the Tribunal's overall downsizing strategy, which has already commenced. While these are our currently anticipated dates for completion, all possible measures will be taken to speed up our 09-63003 proceedings and shorten these anticipated times. To ensure that all possible measures are being taken to expedite our proceedings, I have reconvened the Working Group on Speeding up Trials. The recommendations of that Group will be presented in my next completion strategy report.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Of the 161 accused indicted by the Tribunal, only a single accused remains in the pre-trial stage awaiting the commencement his trial, and that trial will start on 17 December. A total of 24 accused are presently on trial in nine cases, and another 13 have appeals pending. Five trials are expected to be completed during the course of 2010 and three in the first half of 2011, while the remaining case - that of Radovan Karadzic' - is currently estimated to be completed in August or September 2012. With the redeployment of resources to the Appeals Chamber, we anticipate that all appeals will be completed in 2013, except for the Karadzie appeal, which is estimated at this time to be finished in February 2014.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“Judge Robinson: It is an honour for me to appear before the Council in my capacity as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and to do so under the presidency of Burkina Faso. I congratulate Burkina Faso on its assumption of the presidency of the Security Council and thank the President for the attention he has given to matters pertaining to the Tribunal. My remarks today will be brief, as the details of the measures the Tribunal has undertaken to complete its mandate are set out in my written biannual report (S/2009/589), which has been duly submitted to the Council. Since my most recent presentation, the Tribunal has continued to focus its energies on completing its work as expeditiously as possible.”
2009-12-03 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6228 (2009) · source
“The Tribunal is grateful to the Office of the Legal Counsel for the extensive opportunities it gave the Tribunal to provide input for the report of the Secretary-General on the budgetary and administrative aspects of the residual mechanism. Let me close my remarks by stating, in the words of Henry Wadsworth Longfellow: "Great is the art of beginning, but greater is the art of ending." In the very near future, our cases will be completed. Provided that the Security Council ensures that the Tribunal is given sufficient resources to complete its work expeditiously and fairly and provided that sufficient incentives are adopted immediately to retain staff, great indeed will be the art of our ending.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“That said, I note that all indications are that our request for extensions of our judges consonant with our remaining work load will not be granted by the Security Council and that, at most, all judges will be granted an extension until 31 December 2010. Now, this is a political decision taken by the Security Council, but I cannot impress on the Security Council enough the signal such a piecemeal approach to extensions of the mandates of our judges sends to our staff. Such an approach only operates to enhance their desire to secure other employment as soon as possible. I would ask the Council to seriously reconsider the wisdom of its approach to this issue. I must thank the Security Council Working Group on the ad hoc international tribunals and the Austrian Chair, for their work on the residual mechanism.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“I have a genuine fear that we will soon find ourselves without sufficient staff, but it appears to me that Member States that are in a position to assist have adopted an attitude of uninterestedness in this matter. I am not normally given to hyperbolic comments, but if we continue to lose staff at the rate of 27 per month I fear that one day the judges may come to work and find themselves alone. The Tribunal is doing all it can to retain its staff, but without appropriate assistance and concrete measures it will not be successful. This is a matter that I will continue to raise with the Secretary-General, the Office of Human Resources Management and the Controller, and the Security Council's active support in this matter would be very helpful.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“In paragraph 5 of that resolution, the General Assembly requested the Secretary-General "to use the existing contractual frameworks to offer contracts to staff, in line with dates of planned post reductions in accordance with the relevant prevailing trial schedules, in order to remove uncertainty with regard to future employment with the aim of ensuring that the Tribunals have the necessary capacity to complete their respective mandates effectively". It is my intention to ensure the implementation of the resolution as soon as possible, but even so I doubt that this will be enough. I do not want to return here in six months and be berated by the Security Council for a report that indicates substantial delays in the anticipated schedule I am presenting today due to the continuing departures of our uniquely qualified and experienced staff.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Additionally, the Rules Committee is considering the adoption of a rule to allow the admission of written statements of witnesses who are kept away from trial through intimidation. Let me return to the issue of staff retention; it is a difficulty which cuts across all areas of the Tribunal's operations. In the past three months, we have lost 82 staff members at a rough average of 27 per month. Much has been said about the need for highly qualified personnel for the orderly completion of our work. I appeal to the Security Council to exercise foresight so that concrete measures can be implemented now to retain our staff. The only measure that has been taken so far by the General Assembly is resolution 63/256, adopted at its sixty-third session on 24 December 2008.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“As the ICTY is facing increasing competition in hiring qualified language staff without retention incentives, it is likely that the number of translators will decrease rather than increase in the future. Another matter which has had a negative impact on the expeditious progress of trials is contempt proceedings. I need only mention the Seselj trial, which has been adjourned since March 2009. In light of the impact of contempt proceedings on the completion of our trials, I established a working group to examine ways in which contempt may be dealt with without delaying proceedings. That report will be submitted to me shortly, and I am hopeful that it will contain concrete measures that Judges may adopt when faced with contempt issues during their trials.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Observing the United Nations standard of 5.5 pages per day per translator, the need for extensive referencing and indispensable review process to ensure quality translation requires significant time. The situation is further aggravated by the extraordinary demands made on our limited language resources. Owing to the highly technical and often confidential nature of the legal translation work required, outsourcing translations has necessarily been restricted in scope. Efforts continue to identify ways of minimizing the impact of the need for translation on trial and appeal schedules and to identify and recruit qualified translators. However, 20 vacancies remain in the language service, and recruitment is hindered by the completion strategy. In most cases, it takes at least three to five months to recruit a suitable candidate.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“It may be that the Security Council's proscription in paragraph 6 of resolution 1534 (2004), which requested the Tribunal not to try cases involving intermediate and lower rank accused, was inexorably linked to the transfer of cases to the States of the former Yugoslavia. However, with the blessing of the Security Council, we could make a renewed effort to transfer to a developed country one major case of a senior accused. That move alone would save one trial bench 14 months of court sitting, not to count the required time for consideration of an appeal. While the Tribunal continues to make every effort to expedite its work, it has identified some factors that may cause delays to its schedule, which need to be more extensively addressed. First is the issue of translation.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Rwanda was found not to have sufficient capacity to try such cases, and in response the international community is taking measures to address this deficiency. But perhaps more troubling is the lack of capacity or readiness to try such cases present in European countries, where the ICTR had also sought to transfer cases pursuant to rule 11 bis. I consider this to be a critical issue that needs to be addressed by the Security Council and the international community. Surely, countries with highly developed judicial systems could make a greater effort to accept a limited number of 11 bis transfers. In so doing, they would make a real contribution to the international community's efforts to bring the work of the Tribunal to completion in full respect of due process.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“This proposal for deployment was presented in the Tribunal's biennium budget for 2010-2011 as part of the Tribunal's downsizing programme and is a matter that is now formally before the Security Council in the form of a request for an extension of the mandates of the permanent trial and appeal judges and the Tribunal's ad litem judges. In this regard, I thank the Austrian Chair of the Security Council Working Group on the ad hoc Tribunals and the Office of the Legal Counsel for their assistance in expediting the consideration of these proposals to ensure that the work of the Tribunal is not frustrated. I note, however, that the heavy appellate workload of the Tribunal is in part due to the failure of rule 11 bis transfers from the Rwanda Tribunal to national jurisdictions.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Allow me to turn to the current projection of the remaining appeals, including those anticipated from the ICTY and our sister tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), it being recalled that the two Tribunals share an appellate function. Following a detailed analysis, the Tribunal estimated that, absent a redeployment of eight trial judges to the Appeals Chamber upon the completion of their trial work, the ICTY/ICTR Appeals Chamber would be occupied with appellate work into 2015. However, with the redeployment of four ICTY and four ICTR judges, most appellate work will be completed by the end of 2012, with four cases spilling into the first half of 2013.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Of the remaining caseload, the trial of two accused, Stanisie and Simatovie, will begin tomorrow, 5 June 2009, and that of Karadiie will commence in late August 2009. Both Tolimir and the final case of Mic'o Stanisie and Stojan Zupljanin will commence in September 2009. Our current estimates suggest that all but three of our trials will conclude in 2010, two more in early 2011 and the final trial, that of Karadzie, in early 2012. As you can see, our trial activity is entering the final stretch. However, one serious hurdle remains: the continued flight from justice of Ratko Mladic' and Goran Hadzic'. The failure to bring these two men to justice will leave a stain on the Security Council's historic contribution to peacebuilding in the former Yugoslavia.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“Judge Robinson: It is indeed an honour for me to appear before you today in my capacity as President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and to do so under the presidency of Turkey. My remarks today will be brief, as the details of the measures the Tribunal has undertaken to complete its mandate are set out in my written biannual report (see S/2009/252), which has been duly submitted to the Council. Since my most recent presentation before you, the Tribunal has continued to focus its energy on completing its work as expeditiously as possible. Three appeal judgments have been rendered, including in some of our most complex cases, and seven trials are being heard simultaneously in our three courtrooms.”
2009-06-04 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6134 (2009) · source
“I therefore implore you today, members of the Security Council and of the 08-64445 international community: Give the Tribunal the support it needs to enable it to discharge its historic role.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“I represent a court that has tried more persons for breaches of international humanitarian law than any other judicial body. I also represent an institution that, conscious of its responsibilities to the region, has worked strenuously to ensure that local judiciaries have the capacity to try war crimes cases in accordance with the highest international standards. I therefore represent an institution that can be justifiably proud of its achievements. Nonetheless, I address the Council today humbled by the magnitude and complexity of the pioneering role of the Tribunal and deeply concerned that, as the Tribunal's work draws towards its final stages, it should remain sufficiently resourced to discharge its mandate.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“At the procedural level it has judiciously used its rulemaking power to devise a comprehensive framework of rules of procedure and evidence that have already become the template for use in other kindred tribunals. Those rules achieve the twin objectives of expeditiousness and fairness. At the substantive level the Tribunal has, more than any other body, contributed to the development of a corpus of law that has eliminated impunity and entrenched the doctrine of individual criminal responsibility in the field of international criminal law. Few would have imagined, only twenty years ago, that it would have been possible to bring before an international tribunal high-level individuals, including heads of State, accused of the most heinous crimes.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“This visit provided the members of the Working Group with the opportunity to gain important insights into the daily work of the Tribunal and to hear the recommendations of Judges and staff on the nature and functions of the future residual mechanism. The members of the Working Group met not only with senior staff but also with Associate Legal Officers in order to truly get a feel for the daily work of the Tribunal. I represent an institution that, as the first international tribunal since the International Military Tribunals of Nuremberg and Tokyo, has been the most significant actor in the development of international criminal law and the enforcement of international humanitarian law.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“All of these initiatives are part of our efforts to ensure that the long-lasting legacy of our work will continue to grow in importance as we near completion of the cases on our docket. Another increasingly urgent matter is the devising of an appropriate mechanism to address residual issues following the completion of our cases. That, as the Council knows, is a key issue currently on the agenda of the Security Council Working Group on Ad Hoc International Tribunals. In 6 order to assist the Working Group in this complex task, the Tribunals issued a joint report in September 2007, followed by a number of additional clarifications, and invited the Working Group to visit the premises of the Tribunal and meet with the its Judges and staff.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“Additionally, we have undertaken a number of projects that seek to identify best practices that may serve other domestic or international criminal justice institutions handling complex war crimes proceedings. The first such project consists of a compilation of our best practices, undertaken with the assistance of the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute; these will be published and disseminated shortly. We are also working in cooperation with the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe to assess our current outreach activities and training programmes in the former Yugoslavia to identify best practices. The objective of this assessment is to facilitate the creation of capacity- building programmes that meet the needs of domestic courts addressing war crimes cases.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“The Tribunal is also actively involved in capacity-building efforts in the former Yugoslavia, focusing on a number of key areas, including the facilitation of trial coverage by the local media, direct community outreach by its officers on the ground and capacity-building efforts with national judicial institutions addressing war crimes. For example, our local offices have organized training programmes, which, while directed primarily towards lawyers, have also targeted other professionals involved in war crimes proceedings, including witness support staff. Very recently, several Judges met in Belgrade with their counterparts from domestic jurisdictions and shared their expertise in trying war crimes cases.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source
“The history of that case is, in my View, a splendid example of the system for the administration of justice at the Tribunal working efficiently and fairly. First, the 5 case was sent to the Referral Bench to determine whether the accused were at the level to warrant their case to be referred to local courts. This is required by Security Council resolutions 1503 (2003) and 1534 (2004). The Referral Bench determined that the case should be referred but one of the accused appealed that decision, arguing that he was of too senior a level for his case to be referred to the local courts and that he should be tried at the Tribunal. That appeal was allowed and his trial is now taking place.”
2008-12-12 · UN Security Council · Security Council, S/PV.6041 (2008) · source