United Nations Criminal Tribunals Mechanism winding down after indicting more than 250 persons

More than 250 persons that were indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have already been tried, convicted, acquitted, transferred, or otherwise accounted for.

That was revealed by the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, as she presented the Mechanism’s twenty-eight progress report to the United Nations Security Council (Council) in New York.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was a United Nations court of law that dealt with war crimes that took place during the conflicts in the Balkans in the 1990s. During its mandate, which lasted from 1993 – 2017.

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, on the other hand, was established by the UN to prosecute persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law in Rwanda in 1994. It operated in Arusha, Tanzania from 1995 to December 2015.

The Mechanism currently supervises the sentences of 36 persons in eight enforcement States and two persons detained in the United Nations Detention Unit.

President Gatti Santana commenced her remarks by highlighting that the future of international criminal justice and the United Nations’ responsibility towards those within its duty of care now stand before the Council.

She emphasized that every one of the more than 250 persons indicted by the Tribunals for Rwanda (ICTR) and the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) has now been tried, convicted, acquitted, transferred, or otherwise accounted for.

The last hearing in the final case earmarked for trial before the Mechanism recently concluded, and with the referral of one of the final contempt cases to a national jurisdiction, only limited, essential work remains.

The President referred to the Office of Internal Oversight Services (OIOS) report on the methods and work of the Mechanism.

She noted that despite steep resource reductions of over 40 percent in budget and staffing since 2021, the Mechanism has continued to deliver results across all its mandated functions.

However, she observed that the Mechanism’s ability to continually evolve into a “small, temporary and efficient structure” remains hampered by its mandated architecture, which has constrained consolidation and cost savings.

To address this, President Gatti Santana presented an ambitious new Strategic Plan developed by the Mechanism’s Principals.

If adopted by the Council, this plan will result in the completion and transfer of several functions, alongside a substantial physical consolidation and re-organization.

Following these changes, the Mechanism expects to achieve a nearly 90 percent reduction of staffing resources, operate from a single location, downgrade the Registrar’s position, and have the President and Prosecutor serve strictly on an ad hoc basis.

Aligned with the recommendations of the Secretary-General, the Strategic Plan proposes transferring technical, non-court-essential activities, specifically assistance to national jurisdictions and the preservation and management of archives, to the United Nations Secretariat to help close the impunity gap and counter revisionism.

Furthermore, the plan supports transferring the day-to-day supervision of imprisonment conditions to enforcement States, provided international standards are maintained.

In preparation, all current European enforcement States, including Belgium, Estonia, France, Germany, Norway, and the United Kingdom, have confirmed there are no barriers to assuming this function.

Additionally, the United Kingdom and Poland have agreed to serve as temporary detention States if the United Nations Detention Unit in The Hague closes.

Rwanda on the other hand, has indicated its willingness and capacity to enforce sentences derived from the UN-ICTR cases.

The Strategic Plan also recommends terminating certain resource-intensive prosecutorial and judicial functions, including in-court proceedings, which can be effectively carried out by the States.

By contrast, the President underscored that a limited number of key judicial functions must remain at the international level to ensure legal certainty, fairness, and the responsible conclusion of the justice cycle.

These core functions include witness protection, non-bis in idem, the power to refer, monitor, and revoke cases, and judicial matters related to the transfer and release of prisoners.

In particular, the President highlighted the continuous obligation to adjudicate applications for early release or release on humanitarian grounds.

The Mechanism currently supervises the sentences of 36 persons in eight enforcement States and two persons detained in the United Nations Detention Unit.

With the average age of prisoners at 72 years, humanitarian release will become an increasingly significant factor.

The Strategic Plan and the Secretary-General uniformly support retaining this core, non-cost-intensive function within the Mechanism as the most efficient option to guarantee continuous oversight and consistent application of the law.

Finally, the President addressed a recent decision regarding early release for Mr. Ratko Mladić that had been raised before the Council.

She emphasized that this decision was taken in full consultation with five other Judges of his sentencing chambers, involved all procedural guarantees, and applied general principles of law.

She stressed that credible justice depends on judicial independence free from undue political pressure to ensure humane conditions and the effective implementation of sentences for genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.

In closing, the President urged the Council to pass a resolution before the end of the month to ensure the United Nations’ duty of care is implemented without gaps or legal uncertainty, moving steadily on a viable path toward closure.