What's In Blue

Posted Tue 28 Feb 2012

Nomination of a Prosecutor for the Residual Mechanism for Tribunals

Tomorrow (29 February) the Council is scheduled to adopt a resolution appointing Hassan Bubacar Jallow as Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals for a term of four years, starting 1 March. Jallow is currently the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and will continue to hold that position alongside his new one. (Resolution 1966, adopted on 22 December 2010, established the International Residual Mechanism, with two branches, to carry out the essential remaining functions of the tribunals.)

According to Article 14.4 of the Statute of the Residual Mechanism, following the nomination of a candidate by the Secretary-General, the Council is to appoint the Prosecutor for the Mechanism. In a recent exchange of letters the Secretary-General informed the Council of his nomination of Jallow as Prosecutor.

The Secretary-General has also informed the Council of his intention to appoint the President of the Mechanism. (Article 11.1 of the Statute of the Mechanism states that the President is to be appointed after consultation with the President of the Security Council and the judges of the Mechanism.) The Secretary-General informed Council members of his proposed appointee for President in a meeting of the informal working group on international tribunals on 20 January, in order to seek their views. His intention to nominate Jallow as Prosecutor was also conveyed to Council members during that meeting.

The Mechanism’s branch for the ICTR shall only commence functioning on 1 July 2012. However, Council members appear keen to appoint the Prosecutor as soon as possible to allow the Mechanism to running efficiently by the commencement date. (The branch for the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia [ICTY] will commence functioning on 1 July 2013.) The tribunals are expected to conclude their work by 31 December 2014.)

The working group on tribunals will meet on Thursday (1 March) to discuss the rules of procedure for the Mechanism.

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