News

I would like to thank Judges Meron and Joensen and Prosecutors Brammertz and Jallow for their extensive briefings today. Lithuania reiterates its thanks to all the staff of the Tribunals for their work. The upcoming commemoration of the 20th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide is an important opportunity to take meaningful steps towards reconciliation and sustainable peace in the region. The anniversary is a sad reminder of the massive human tragedy and the failure of the international community to protect the population from genocide and crimes against humanity. At the same time, it once again underlines the importance of upholding and actively pursuing accountability of those responsible for the most serious of crimes.

Through its jurisprudence, ICTY has contributed significantly to the international criminal law and still continues to do so. Both Tribunals have played a historic role in the prosecution of wartime sexual violence and has paved the way for the adjudication of such crimes worldwide. Both have championed respect for the rule of law and contributed to the necessary process of truth-seeking and reconciliation. The reports that were presented today clearly indicate that both Tribunals are moving steadily towards the completion of their mandates. We welcome the steps they have taken to expedite the work and effectively conclude the cases still under consideration while referring the outstanding tasks to the Residual Mechanism.

With regard to the ICTY, the Tribunal has made substantial progress over the last reporting period. Two appeal judgements have been rendered, including the case on Vujadin Popović, regarding five individuals convicted at trial. Only seven trials and appeals currently remain, involving the last 14 accused individuals and appellants. We are looking forward to the trial judgments in Vojislav Šešelj, Radovan Karadžić and Ratko Mladić cases, three of the most important indictees, and encourage ICTY to take all appropriate measures to expedite decisions in those cases.

We note the concern of high staff attrition rates expressed by President of ICTY in his report and acknowledge the steps taken by the Tribunal to tackle this concern. Challenging circumstances and delays in judgments can jeopardize the course of justice. We acknowledge the challenges that ICTY is facing in meeting the deadlines of the remaining seven trials and encourage it to continue taking all necessary measures in order to minimise the delays.

Accountability for war crimes and crimes against humanity depends on the timely completion of the remaining proceedings by the Tribunals and the Residual Mechanism. As ICTY nears the completion of its mandate, accountability at the national level is utmost important.  We welcome co-operation between Office of the Prosecutor of ICTY and the authorities in Bosnia and Herzegovina, Serbia and Croatia. At the same time, we would like to share the concern expressed by Prosecutor Brammertz on improper attempts to influence independent judicial authorities and politicization of war crimes prosecutions. We urge concerned States to overcome the most serious barriers of national justice and to properly investigate and prosecute war crimes under their jurisdiction.

With regard to the ICTR, we would like to commend the tireless work and the dedication of the staff and judges on its continuation of judicial and legal activities that are focused on completing the work of the Tribunal.  We welcome that transition to the Residual Mechanism is close to completion and that the Tribunal plans to close by the end of 2015.  While ICTR is completing its mandate, nine fugitives indicted by ICTR remain at large. We encourage all States to provide their full support to Rwanda and the Mechanism so as to achieve their arrest and surrender.

We note that the Residual Mechanism, working closely with both Tribunals, has assumed many of their core functions, including with regard to the enforcement of sentences, protection of victims and witnesses, the management of archives and relocation of acquitted and released persons. We take note of the remaining challenges with regard to the relocation of individuals who have been acquitted or those who have served their sentence imposed by ICTR. More needs to be done to find a long-term solution to this issue. In the meantime, we encourage all States to cooperate with an aim to resolving this matter as quickly as possible.

While ICTY and ICTR have dealt with some of the most gruesome crimes, mass atrocities continue to be committed in other parts of the world, and impunity continues to prevail. The legacy of both Tribunals has taken concrete form in the establishment of a permanent international criminal tribunal — the International Criminal Court — which is today at the heart of the entire criminal justice system of the international community. In this regard, support to the ICC is essential in order to make sure it can deliver justice to the numerous victims.