United Nations

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS DEADLINE FOR NOMINATIONS
OF INTERNATIONAL TRIBUNAL JUDGES

NEW YORK, 19 January (UN Headquarters) -- The Security Council this afternoon decided to send a letter to the Secretary-General informing him of its decision to extend the deadline for nominations of judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia until 31 January.

That Council took that action in response to a letter from the Secretary-General addressed to its President (document S/2001/61).

In the letter, the Secretary-General advises that, subsequent to the Council’s decision to increase the number of judges in resolution 1329 (2000), he sought nominations, in a letter sent to Member States, in November 2000. At the end of the specified 60-day nomination period, he had received 24 nominations. Annexed to the Secretary-General’s letter are the names and curricula vitae of the nominees.

He also explains that the statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia specifies that there must be no less than 28, and no more than 42, nominations, and notes that the number of nominations he is setting before the Council (24) is short of the statutory minimum number (28).

[The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was established by Security Council resolution 827 on 25 May 1993. It is mandated to prosecute and try persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. This involves prosecuting and trying individuals for four clusters of offences: grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions; violations of the laws or customs of war; genocide; and crimes against humanity. It is located in The Hague, the Netherlands.]

[By resolution 1329 (2000) the Council decided to establish a pool of ad litem judges for the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, to expand the Appeals Chamber which services both the Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, by electing two additional judges to the latter Tribunal, and then calling on it to assign two judges to the Appeals Chamber. Nominations for people to become judges are made by Member States of the United Nations (and non-member States maintaining permanent missions), following an invitation from the Secretary-General. The Secretary-General forwards the nominations to the Council. The Council then selects a list of candidates and forwards that list to the General Assembly, which (in concert with certain non-member States) elects candidates from that list. Once elected, permanent judges serve four-year terms.]

The meeting was called to order at 5:13 p.m. and adjourned at 5:15 p.m.