ICTR PRESS BRIEFING

Arusha, 31 January 2000

Kingsley Chiedu Moghalu, Spokesman for the International Tribunal today gave the following briefing to the media.

Report of the Expert Review Group

The report of the Expert Group to Review the Effective Operation and Functioning of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia has been published at United Nations Headquarters in New York. The Expert Group was appointed by the Secretary-General at the request of the General Assembly.

The members of the Expert Group are: Mr. Jerome Ackerman (USA), Chairman, Justice Pedro David (Argentina), Justice Hassan Jallow (The Gambia), Justice Jayachandra Reddy (India), and Mr. Patricio Ruedas (Spain).

The Group's report has several significant findings, observations and suggestions. Some of the highlights are:

· When the Security Council created the ICTY and ICTR, it embarked on unchartered waters. The creation by the UN under its Charter of prosecutorial and judicial organs almost inevitably presented issues either unforseen or not fully appreciated; issues that would unfold only through the process of trial and error. In establishing and supporting the Tribunals, the UN has taken noble and farsighted measures.

· Considering the present and anticipated caseload of the two Tribunals, it will take the ICTR seven to eight years and the ICTY ten years to complete their tasks.

· The two Tribunals have a unique international character and are unlike national jurisdictions in both their structure, rules and functioning. This unique character makes the work of the Tribunals a far more complex undertaking than would be the case in a national system.

· The number of motions filed by the parties in cases before the Trial Chambers of both Tribunals is excessive. This practice slows down and prolongs trials and needs to be curtailed. The Expert Group noted the determination of the Trial Chamber Judges to expedite pre-trial and trial proceedings.

· The ICTR has been remarkably successful in indicting, and bringing to trial, many of the senior figures allegedly involved in the massacres in Rwanda in 1994. The major objectives of the Security Council are largely not fulfilled if only low level figures rather than the civilian, military and para-military leaders who were allegedly responsible for the atrocities are brought before the Tribunals for trial.

· ICTR staff of both the Registry and the Office of the Prosecutor have achieved repeated success, with the cooperation of African States, in tracking, arresting and transporting indicted suspects over a wide geographical area.

· Detention Facilities at both Tribunals are highly secure and modern well designed facilities.

· The Expert Group noted and strongly supported measures taken by the ICTR Registry to strengthen staff support for the work of the Tribunal's Appeals Chamber both at Arusha and in The Hague, further noting that this assignment of staff to follow up appeals processes should help reduce delays in the appeals process. It also noted measures taken to improve the effectiveness of the Court Management function, including increasing automation and a change in the Rules of the ICTR designed to ensure that defense counsel comply with reasonable scheduling required for the expeditious conduct of proceedings. Many of the lawyers who are defending accused persons at the Tribunal are based far away from Arusha - in Canada, the United States, Europe and Africa.

· The Expert Group observed that in a number of cases in both Tribunals, there appeared to be an excessive number of changes in assigned defense counsel to indigent accused, with obvious resulting increases in the amounts paid in legal fees due to inevitable duplication in legal work. It recommended a strict enforcement of the requirement of the existence of exceptional circumstances before a change of counsel could be granted. The Group noted the scrupulous and extensive manner in which the Rwanda Tribunal had respected the wishes of the accused regarding assignment, and change of counsel, but also noted that respect of such wishes should at the same time take into account the requirements of a fair and expeditious trial.

· On the issue of a single Prosecutor for both Tribunals (the ICTR and the ICTY have a single Prosecutor for both courts), the Expert Group was of the view that, midway in the life of both ad hoc Tribunals, there was no compelling reason to recommend an amendment of the Statute to provide a separate Prosecutor for the ICTR.

· The Registries of the two International Tribunals had a unique role in terms of the combination of responsibilities to administratively service both the Chambers and the Prosecution organs, which are independent of the Secretary-General. But normal UN regulations and rules, administered under the authority of the Secretary-General as Chief Administrative Officer of the Organization apply to both Tribunals. It is the responsibility of the Registries to see that these are observed, and this causes complexities.