S/PV.6228
6228th meeting
Thursday, 3 December 2009, 10 a.m.
New York
International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991
International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994
Letter dated 12 November 2009 from the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2009/587)
Letter dated 12 November 2009 from the President of the International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991 addressed to the President of the Security Council (S/2009/589)
Mr. Dabbashi (Libyan Arab Jamahiriya) (spoke in Arabic): First of all, I would like to congratulate you, Mr. President, and your delegation on the assumption of the presidency of the Security Council for December. We are certain that your African wisdom and skills will enable you to direct the work of the Council successfully. I would also like to thank Ambassador Mayr-Harting and his delegation for wisely conducting the Council’s work last month.
I wish to welcome the Presidents and the Prosecutors of the two courts, the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, and thank them for all the information that they provided in their briefings.
We welcome the noticeable progress made in the completion strategy work for the two Tribunals and the strong determination of the judges, prosecutors and all the staff of the Tribunals to complete their mandates successfully and as soon as possible. However, we are aware of the difficulties that the Tribunals encounter while carrying out their work, in particular when the swift arrest and extradition of the accused become impossible. While it is true that we welcome the cooperation of the Governments of Serbia, Croatia, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Uganda on the arrest and the extradition of some senior accused, we hope that all countries will continue to fully cooperate in arresting the remaining fugitives as soon as possible, given the importance of the arrests to provide equity for the victims, to uphold justice, to achieve reconciliation and to provide security and stability in their respective countries and regions.
We firmly believe that enhancing the capacity of the judicial authorities in the countries concerned, in particular Rwanda, is especially important if we want those national judicial institutions to take on the trials that the two Tribunals will not be able to take up because they will have completed their work. It is vital to transfer as many pending cases as possible to national jurisdictions, in full conformity with the rules and procedures for fair trials. Transferring some cases to national jurisdictions would undoubtedly boost the rule of law in those countries, in particular access to documentation, which is even more important than the judicial procedures themselves in order to know the history and national reconciliation efforts in those countries.
We must ensure completion of the Tribunals’ work with scrupulous respect for the deadlines called for by the two completion strategies, which means that we must make a decision on the legacy of the Tribunals. We are pleased to see the efforts made by the informal Working Group on international tribunals, chaired by Austria, seeking to reach an agreement on all pending issues with regard to the legacy of the Tribunals.
Thus, we would expect the Council to address the conclusions of the Working Group in the near future, and for it to establish an international mechanism that would guarantee the effective and professional treatment of the legacy of the two Tribunals after the completion of their work.
