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7960th Security Council Meeting: International Criminal Tribunals
A worrying denial of war crimes, glorification of convicted perpetrators and a lack of cooperation with some national authorities were among obstacles hampering the full discharge of the mandates of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, senior Tribunal officials told the Security Council today.
Those and other challenges were highlighted alongside progress reports during briefings on recent developments in the Mechanism and efforts being made ahead of the closure of the Tribunal on 31 December 2017.
Serge Brammertz, Prosecutor of the Tribunal and the Mechanism, cited progress in both, but pointed to widespread denial of war crimes and praise for the perpetrators. Also concerning was a refusal to accept the fact that genocide had occurred in Rwanda in 1994 and in Srebrenica in 1995, as determined by the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, respectively. With the closing of the Rwanda Tribunal and the pending closure of the former Yugoslavia Tribunal, addressing that matter was more important than ever. “To secure a peaceful future,” he said, “there must be a shared agreement on the recent past.”
On efforts to locate and arrest eight fugitives indicted by the Rwanda Tribunal, he stressed that the window of opportunity would not remain open forever. “If we do not demonstrate a track record of success over the coming years,” he said, “we will have to consider alternatives” such as fully transferring responsibility for the fugitives to national authorities.
Theodor Meron, President of the Mechanism, provided an overview of its continued progress (document S/2017/434), which included increasing its workload and building relationships with countries to explore new opportunities to achieve further gains regarding the situation of acquitted and released persons. Noting other developments, he said preparatory work had begun for the Office of Internal Oversight Services’ (OIOS) evaluation of the Mechanism.
However, he went on to say, obstacles existed. Substantive proceedings in the Ngirabatware case were at a standstill because of the ongoing detention by Turkish authorities of Judge Aydin Sefa Akay, he said, urging the Council to take the requisite steps to resolve that unprecedented situation. More broadly, a recent rise in suspicions of global and regional institutions reflected an apparent retreat of the shared vision of what could be achieved when the international community worked together. “We cannot allow a temporary tide to erode any of the vital progress that the United Nations and this Council have made over the last quarter century in strengthening the rule of law and ensuring greater accountability under and in accordance with international law,” he said.
Carmel Agius, President of the former Yugoslavia Tribunal, presented its penultimate completion strategy report (document S/2017/436), noting that activities were on track, despite some outstanding challenges. “No institution can restore what was lost in the Yugoslav wars or undo the terrible crimes committed,” he said. “The Tribunal has demonstrated, however, that when the international community has the will to cooperate and to stand for what is right, those responsible for the most egregious violations of international humanitarian law can be held to account.”
Certain obstacles to completing the Tribunal’s mandate required the Council’s urgent attention, he said. In a pending contempt case against Petar Jojić and Vjerica Radeta, Serbia had refused to execute arrest warrants issued in 2015. The Council had the capacity to tackle that matter, he said, stressing that the alleged interference with witnesses must not go unanswered. “Any unfinished business will remain a disturbing footnote in an otherwise successful, indeed ground-breaking, attempt to hold persons accountable for the most heinous crimes that can be imagined,” he concluded.
Čedomir Backović, Special Representative of the Government of Serbia, addressing the call to surrender three persons, said the charges against them were contempt of court, not war crimes. Serbia remained fully dedicated to cooperating with the Tribunal and had already shown its commitment to fight impunity, including by fully aligning its criminal laws with relevant standards. Moreover, Serbia had provided free access to important evidence, including documents, archives and witnesses. It had allowed 757 witnesses to testify freely and carried out all 11 requests for witness protection. While freedom of speech was among Serbia’s top priorities, single statements of some individuals or civil society organizations must never be interpreted as official positions of his Government. He warned against generalizations based on speculations and innuendo.
Davor Ivo Stier, Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign and European Affairs of Croatia, said that in creating the Tribunal, the Council had strictly confined it to the application of existing international humanitarian law and not in any way to creating precedent. Any attempt to go beyond those limits could seriously damage international criminal law. He warned against holding military and civilian officials with authority over forces liable for any crimes committed by those forces, as doing so would seriously jeopardize, if not disable, States from conducting any military operations and even peacekeeping missions.
Bosnia and Herzegovina’s representative, stressing that the fight against impunity remained an essential precondition for sustainable peace, provided an update on his country’s ongoing justice sector reform.
In the ensuing discussions, Council members voiced a range of concerns, with several calling on Serbia to comply with its obligations regarding the outstanding arrest warrants. Meanwhile, the Russian Federation’s representative rejected any attempt that placed blame for crime on peoples or Governments, saying that doing so created unjustified images of those parties. The Tribunal must operate on the core basis of law, which placed responsibility for crimes solely on individuals. The Mechanism’s work hinged on the Council’s review and must be careful to not overstep its mandate or take excursions outside its jurisdiction.
Many speakers, including those from France and Senegal, called for bolstered efforts to apprehend the eight fugitives indicted by the Rwanda Tribunal. Some called for a resolution to the ongoing detention by Turkish authorities of Judge Akay. Ethiopia’s representative pointed to reports of the early release of genocide convicts without thorough consultations with parties involved, saying such actions could have serious implications for the victims, particularly in light of Mr. Brammertz’s findings.
Also speaking were the representatives of Uruguay, Italy, Japan, United States, China, Egypt, Ukraine, Kazakhstan, Sweden, United Kingdom and Bolivia.
The meeting began at 10:05 a.m. and ended at 12:40 p.m.
