NEW YORK, August 28 (Hina) - The United Nations' Security Council on Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution in which it called on the Hague-based tribunal to wrap up its work by 2010, and divide the prosecutorial duties for the
criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia, which to date had been the responsibility of a single official, currently Carla del Ponte.
NEW YORK, August 28 (Hina) - The United Nations' Security Council on
Thursday unanimously adopted a resolution in which it called on the
Hague-based tribunal to wrap up its work by 2010, and divide the
prosecutorial duties for the criminal tribunals for Rwanda and the
former Yugoslavia, which to date had been the responsibility of a
single official, currently Carla del Ponte. #L#
Pursuant to Resolution 1503, the Security Council called on
countries in the area of the former Yugoslavia to arrest all war
crimes indictees who are still on the run.
The document calls on the International Criminal Tribunal for the
former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) to take
all necessary steps to wrap up investigations by the end of 2004,
complete all trial activities (of first instance) by the end of
2008, and to complete all work in 2010 (the Completion
Strategies).
Under the resolution's section on the separation of mandates of
prosecutorial duties for the criminal tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia and Rwanda, current Chief Prosecutor Carla del Ponte
will continue to be competent for the ICTY, while the appointment of
a new chief prosecutor of the ICTR will follow.
The resolution welcomes steps taken by countries in the former
Yugoslavia aimed at the promotion of cooperation with the courts
and apprehension of those accused of war crimes, but it also
expresses concern over the fact that certain countries have not yet
rendered full co-operation. The text does not say to which
countries this refers.
Referring in the document to countries in the former Yugoslavia,
the Security Council called on all States, especially Serbia and
Montenegro, Croatia, and Bosnia and Herzegovina, and on the
Republika Srpska within Bosnia and Herzegovina, to intensify
cooperation with and render all necessary assistance to the
Tribunal in order to extradite especially Radovan Karadzic and
Ratko Mladic (war-time Bosnian Serb leaders) as well as retired
Croatian general Ante Gotovina and all other ICTY indictees. It
called on all at-large indictees to surrender to that court.
The resolution also calls on UN Member-States to consider measures
to be taken against individuals and groups or organisation that are
offering help and harbouring fugitive indictees. Such measures can
include the restriction of movement and freezing of assets of those
persons.
Calling on countries in the former Yugoslavia to co-operate with
the Hague-based ICTY, the Security Council in no way mentions any
possible introduction of sanctions against any of countries in
question because of their failure to cooperate. The terminology of
the text of the resolution is mild and does not include expressions
such as 'demand' which could be interpreted as a indication of the
Council's intention to impose sanctions.
Croatian weekly Globus has speculated in its latest issue that the
Security Council might impose sanctions on Croatia due to the non-
extradition of Gen. Gotovina. However, the fact that the session at
which Resolution 1503 was adopted on Thursday morning took only
five minutes and that there was no discussion is a sign that this was
a technical document and that sanctions are out of question.
After the end of the session, Croatia's permanent representative to
the UN, Vladimir Drobnjak, handed over to the Council's chairman,
Syrian Ambassador Mikhail Wehbe, a letter of Croatian Prime
Minister Ivica Racan who voiced dissatisfaction with the equating
of responsibility of fugitive Croatian General Ante Gotovina with
the liability of indicted Karadzic and Mladic.
Racan wrote in the letter that the Croatian government "regrets
connotations stemming from the second operative paragraph of the
aforementioned resolution and rejects the a priori equating of the
accountability of retired Croatian General Ante Gotovina with that
of the indicted Radovan Karadzic and Ratko Mladic".
The Croatian premier wrote that Zagreb would continue to offer
unreserved support and all necessary assistance to the Tribunal,
adding that the Croatian government will not back away from its
responsibilities towards the Office of the Prosecutor.
In this context the PM publicly called on Gen. Gotovina to appear
before the Tribunal.
Defining the completion strategy of the Tribunal, the Resolution
supports the Tribunal's intention to allow national courts to
process lower-profile indictees.
The document calls on the international community to help courts in
the countries in question to improve their possibilities of
processing some cases which the ICTY transfers to them.
In his letter Racan said the Croatian judiciary "has already
prosecuted and continues to prosecute those accused of war crimes
committed on the territory of the Republic of Croatia, regardless
of their nationality or religious beliefs and stands ready to take
over any new cases delegated by the ICTY".
(hina) ms