SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS TERM OF JUDGE ON TRIBUNAL FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA, UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1668 (2006)

Security Council

5407^th Meeting (AM)

SECURITY COUNCIL EXTENDS TERM OF JUDGE ON TRIBUNAL FOR FORMER YUGOSLAVIA,

UNANIMOUSLY ADOPTING RESOLUTION 1668 (2006)

The Security Council today decided, in response to the request by United Nations Secretary-General Kofi Annan, to extend the term of office of a short-term judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, allowing him to finish the case he began before the expiry of his term of office.

The Council’s unanimous adoption of resolution 1668 (2006) confirmed that Judge Joaquin Canivell could serve in the Krajišnik case, to which he was appointed as an ad litem judge on 1 May 2003, beyond April 2006 and see it through to its completion, notwithstanding the fact that the cumulative period of his service in the Tribunal would then exceed three years.

As noted in the letter to the President of the Security Council from the Secretary-General dated 27 March (document S/2006/199), Judge Canivell’s term of office had come to an end on 11 June 2005, and he was not re-elected as an ad litem judge.  However, the Council, by its resolution 1581 of 18 January 2005, decided that Judge Canivell should finish the Krajišnik case, which was initially expected to be concluded by April 2006.  The President of the Tribunal has informed the Secretary-General that the case is now expected to be completed only by August or September 2006.

The Council created the pool of ad hoc, or ad litem, judges in June 2001 in an effort to speed up the work of the Tribunal, which was set up in The Hague, Netherlands, in 1993 to prosecute those responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the wars that saw the break-up of what was then known as the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia.

Speaking after the vote, the representative of the Russian Federation said that he did not object to the extension of the mandate of the ad litem judge, since such a decision coincided with the strategy of concluding the work of the Tribunal.  However, he drew attention to the fact that the Council had been obliged to extend the mandate for the second time.  That was yet another proof of the fact that the work of the Tribunal was not sufficiently satisfactory.

The meeting began at 10:10 a.m. and ended at 10:15 a.m.

Resolution

The full text of resolution 1668 (2006) reads as follows:

“The Security Council,

“Recalling Security Council resolution 1581 (2005) of 18 January 2005,

“Taking note of the letter to the President of the Security Council from the Secretary-General dated 27 March 2006,

“Decides in response to the request by the Secretary-General to confirm that Judge Joaquín Canivell can continue to sit in the Krajišnik case beyond April 2006 and see the case through to its completion, notwithstanding the fact that the cumulative period of his service in the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia would then attain and exceed three years,

“Decides to remain seized of the matter.”

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For information media • not an official record