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7829th Security Council Meeting: International Criminal Tribunals
Briefing the Council on progress made and challenges encountered, Carmel Agius said there was a systemic institutional problem with international justice: it was called politics. While sensitivities might arise as a result of cooperating with the Tribunal, that could not be an excuse for failing to do so, referring to the pending contempt case of Jojić et al., in which Serbia had yet to execute the arrest warrants for three indicted persons. Serbia had also failed to file any monthly progress reports since May. He asked the Council’s support in that matter.
The development of an international justice system was a long-term project which was just getting started, he said. The Tribunal, as the first international criminal tribunal since World War II, had played an enormous role in those beginnings. Not only had it changed the way of thinking about and reacting to impunity, it had served as a powerful catalyst for the establishment of other international courts and tribunals, he stated.
Theodor Meron, President of the International Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, said the Mechanism had made much progress in the past six months, both in its cases and in the development of its regulatory framework. However, the continuing detention of Judge Aydin Sefa Akay was a “serious matter” which was impacting the effective discharge of the Mechanism’s mandate.
He pointed out that Judge Akay enjoyed diplomatic immunity from the time of his assignment to the Ngirabatware proceedings and through to their conclusion. Yet the judge remained detained and unable to carry out his duties on that case. Respect for the fundamental principle of judicial independence could not be reconciled with the removal of Judge Akay from the bench to which he had been assigned. All States had to respect their obligations arising under resolutions adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter, he said, appealing to the Government of Turkey to release Judge Akay.
Serge Brammerz, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, said his Offices were firmly focused on three priorities: expeditiously completing trials and appeals; locating and arresting the remaining eight fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda; and providing assistance to national jurisdictions prosecuting war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
Reporting on various cases before the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal and the Mechanism stemming from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, he said cooperation by the countries of the former Yugoslavia remained critical to the completion of the mandate, noting that Serbia continued to ignore and breach its legal obligations to cooperate with the Tribunal. As for locating and arresting the remaining eight fugitives for the Rwanda Tribunal, he said his Office had completed its overall review of tracking efforts and major steps were now being undertaken to resolve the challenges identified.
He further noted that politicians and Government officials from the region of the former Yugoslavia were undermining trust in judicial accountability for war crime and calling into question the independence and impartiality of the judiciary. The glorification of war criminals also continued throughout the region, as demonstrated by the Republika Srpska National Assembly’s decision to officially decorate convicted war criminals.
In the ensuing debate, speakers hailed the efforts of the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal to end its work by the end of 2017 and commended the Residual Mechanism for its efficient and transparent work. Many stressed that the creation of criminal tribunals had made clear that the perpetrators of serious crimes against humanity would not go unpunished. “We can’t afford the luxury of forgetting the lessons of history that were learned at a staggering cost of human lives,” stressed the representative of Ukraine.
Speakers further underscored the importance of States cooperating with the Tribunal and the Mechanism, expressing the hope that the detention of Judge Akay by Turkey would come to a speedy solution. However, while most speakers supported measures to prevent staff attrition in the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal, the representative of the Russian Federation, stated that the Tribunal was adequately staffed, and delays in judicial proceedings were due mainly to the unequal distribution of work and the excessively long preparation of cases.
Other speakers also expressed concerns regarding the Tribunals and the Mechanism, including the representative of Rwanda who underscored the substantial body of jurisprudence produced by the Rwanda Tribunal, including definitions of the crime of genocide and rape as a weapon of war. The unilateral decision to store the Rwanda Tribunal archives in a specific location without involving Rwanda could not be decided merely on the basis of logistical and administrative considerations. A significant part of the documents had been provided by her Government to the Tribunal for prosecution work. They legally belonged to Rwanda and must be returned, she emphasized.
The representative of Croatia pointed out that, despite its achievements, the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal had only convicted two persons for the horrors that took place in the Croatian city of Vukovar, the largest massacre in Europe after World War II. Such an imbalance between the magnitude of the crime and the justice served was something to bear in mind while evaluating the Tribunal. It was also important to note that regional cooperation in criminal matters was evolving against the backdrop of conditions vividly described in the reports.
Responding to criticism that his country was not cooperating with the Tribunal, Serbia’s representative said over 45 defendants, out of the 46 requested, had been handed over to the Tribunal. As for the non-extradition of three individuals, he said the High Court in Belgrade had decided that the legal conditions for the executions of the Tribunals’ warrants had not been fulfilled in that case. Serbia had proved its commitment to prosecuting all crimes that the Security Council had listed in the statute, he stressed.
Still, the representative of Bosnia and Herzegovina emphasized that 2017 would not be the expiration date for the pursuit of justice, nor did the Former Yugoslavia Tribunal’s closure imply the end of his country’s fight against impunity — a prerequisite for achieving national reconciliation and long-term stability, he said. Prosecuting war crimes, regardless of national origin or religion, was crucial in helping build a peaceful and prosperous country.
The representatives of Uruguay, New Zealand, France, China, Senegal, Japan, Malaysia, United Kingdom, United States, Egypt, Venezuela, Angola and Spain also spoke.
The meeting started at 10:06 a.m. and adjourned at 12:38 p.m
