| Date | 18 December 1998 |
|---|
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Agenda item 137
Financing of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Genocide and Other Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of Rwanda and Rwandan Citizens Responsible for Genocide and Other Such Violations Committed in the Territory of Neighbouring States between 1 January and 31 December 1994
Report of the Fifth Committee (A/53/756)
The Acting President
I call on the representative of Uganda on a point of order.
Mr. Odaga-Jalomayo (Uganda)
I wish to make a correction to paragraph 5 of the draft resolution recommended in paragraph 6 of the report of the Fifth Committee. The reference to "paragraph 3 above" should be changed to "paragraph 4 above".
The Acting President
The Assembly will now take a decision on the draft resolution recommended in paragraph 6 of the report of the Fifth Committee (A/53/756), as orally corrected. The draft resolution was adopted by the Fifth Committee without a vote. May I take it that the Assembly too wishes to adopt the draft resolution, as orally corrected?
The Acting President
Before calling on representatives who wish to speak in explanation of position on the resolution just adopted, let me remind members that explanations of vote are limited to 10 minutes and should be made by delegations from their seats.
Mr. Orlov (Russia)
In the light of the need for a swift decision on the financing of the Tribunal for Rwanda, the delegation of the Russian Federation joined the consensus on this resolution. However, with respect to paragraph 4, which relates to a recommendation by the Advisory Committee on Administrative and Budgetary Questions on the convening of a group of independent experts to evaluate the operations of the Tribunal, the Russian delegation continues to have serious doubts about the need for such a group and about its mandate. In our view, the mandate of the group of experts should not go beyond administrative and budgetary issues. The work of that group must not infringe on areas that lie exclusively within the competence of the Security Council. We are firmly convinced that only the Security Council, which established the Tribunal, has the right to evaluate its operations from the political or legal standpoint and to carry out effective monitoring of its functioning.
Mr. Odaga-Jalomayo (Uganda)
I wish to thank the representative of New Zealand, who did a wonderful job of coordinating the item on which the Assembly has just taken a decision. My delegation has a particular interest in this item and would therefore like to make some brief comments. We are particularly happy to note that the General Assembly has taken the decision to establish an expert group to evaluate the operation and functioning of the Tribunals for Rwanda and for the former Yugoslavia. It is the view of my delegation that the expert group will be able to assess the effectiveness of the Tribunals and the way in which they have been functioning since their establishment. We hope that its report will be useful in helping all the concerned organs of the United Nations as they try to take the steps necessary to improve the effective functioning of the Tribunals.
We are also happy to note that the resolution we have just adopted takes note that efforts are being made by the Office of Human Resources Management to review the current remuneration package applicable to staff of the Tribunal. We hope that this will go a long way towards encouraging more staff to work in the Tribunal and to fill the vacancies there, which we have noted are very high.
Finally, allow me to say that aspersions have been cast as to the appreciation extended to the management of the Tribunal on the functioning of the Tribunal in Arusha. Those of us who are quite close to the Tribunal and who have been following its development believe that many efforts have been made to try to put it on a proper footing, and although not all is totally perfect, we believe that the efforts made to date should be appreciated. We are very pleased that the Committee and the General Assembly have recognized this effort, and we want to send a clear message to the management of the Tribunal that it should continue its work and strive harder to make the Tribunal more effective.
The Acting President
We have heard the last speaker in explanation of position.
We have thus concluded this stage of our consideration of agenda item 137.
