General Assembly Session 55 meeting 68

The President

Before turning to the items on our agenda, I should like to remind the General Assembly that today, 20 November, is Africa Industrialization Day.

Today, the first Africa Industrialization Day of the new millennium, is a landmark for measuring African industrial progress. This is an occasion to recognize the tireless efforts of African Governments and societies to create sustainable development and improved living conditions.

We all know that globalization provides opportunities and challenges for Africa, but perhaps in some instances late-comers have the advantage of being able to learn from best practices and tested strategies and to use environmentally friendly technologies. For this reason, the industrial development of developing countries may be faster and more stable than it was in those countries that experienced it earlier.

For African industry, the challenge of going global is a matter of improving competitiveness and productivity. I should like to remind Members of the positive growth rates and reforms in several African countries and the potential of its people. African Industrialization Day calls for further concerted efforts at the national, regional and international levels to transform the continent's natural resources into processed goods and to raise the overall growth rate of manufacturing.

In order to do this, among other things, Africa needs to learn from the latest technological wisdom offered by information and communication technologies in pursuit of development. These innovations should be adapted according to local conditions and needs. Simultaneously, there is a need for basic industries, which are the backbone of any industrialized economy. We need to be pragmatic and to maintain and ensure a balance between different sectors.

African industries need a well-trained workforce. African entrepreneurs need to be encouraged with different incentives relating to investment, enterprise start-up procedures and public investment in basic physical infrastructure. Social considerations and poverty eradication should not be forgotten during the process of industrialization.

With the support of the international community and multilateral agencies, African countries can strengthen their small and medium-sized industries, which form the major part of the African private sector. This is an undertaking that requires not only a strategic vision, but the full commitment of entire populations and the international community.

The capacity of developing countries, especially the least developed countries, must be our special focus in the new millennium, as agreed by the heads of State and Government in the Millennium Declaration. Next year, the Third United Nations Conference on the Least Developed Countries and the high-level segment of the Economic and Social Council provide an opportunity for all stakeholders to continue the dialogue and exchange of views on the important topics that we are debating today.

The President

I should like to inform representatives that following consultations regarding agenda item 51 on the question of the Falkland Islands (Malvinas), and taking into account General Assembly decision 54/412 of 4 November 1999, it is proposed that the General Assembly decide to postpone consideration of this item and to include it in the provisional agenda of its fifty-sixth session.

May I take it therefore that the Assembly, taking into account decision 54/412, wishes to defer consultations of this item and to include it in the provisional agenda of the fifty-sixth session?

The President

The General Assembly has thus concluded its consideration of agenda item 51.

The President

May I take it that the Assembly takes note of the fifth annual report of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda?

The President

I call on Ms. Navanethem Pillay, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda.

Ms. Pillay (Rwanda)

It is my honour to present to Members a report on the activities of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) for the year 1999 to 2000. It is my hope that the report will bear out the Security Council's vision when it created the ICTR six years ago on 8 November 1994 for the purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda in 1994, with the goal of achieving peace and reconciliation in Rwanda.

Through the creation of the two ad hoc Tribunals, the ICTR and the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ITY), the United Nations has given expression to a truly global desire for justice and respect for the rule of law. As a result of the jurisprudence of these Tribunals, the concept of individual criminal responsibility at the international level is finally gaining world endorsement and international criminal justice has now become a reality. The establishment of an internationally recognized system of justice provides a new avenue of recourse in a world that desperately needs the rule of law as an alternative to the use of force.

In the Millennium Declaration issued by Member States, they resolved to strengthen the rule of law in international as in national affairs, and by signing and ratifying some 40 international instruments the Member States have reaffirmed, in the words of the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan,

"the vital importance of international law which is the common language of our international community".

Our daily efforts at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in carrying out the complex and difficult task of dispensing justice expeditiously, but fairly, must be viewed in the light of the Member States' vision for the millennium. Accordingly, the jurisprudence that is emerging from the ad hoc Tribunals is making an important contribution towards realizing this vision.

Specifically, the jurisprudence of the ad hoc Tribunals provides precedent and impetus for the International Criminal Court and for the judicial tribunals being established by the United Nations for Sierra Leone and Cambodia. Indeed it is the hope of the Judges that the Tribunals will exert in the months and years to come an even stronger legal and symbolic influence on emerging and existing national and international institutions based on the rule of law.

Now to the question of what the ICTR has achieved in the first year of its second mandate. In one year, since November 1999 when I last delivered my statement to the Assembly, the performance of the ICTR has improved, our work has accelerated and our output has multiplied. In the year under review the Trial Chambers of the ICTR have delivered three judgements involving convictions of genocide and crimes against humanity.

I am going to proceed to briefly give delegations an idea of the work this year. On 6 December 1999, Georges Rutaganda, a former businessman and second-vice president of the Interahamwe and, on 27 January 2000, Alfred Musema, a tea factory director, were convicted and sentenced to life imprisonment. Both convicted persons have lodged appeals against their respective judgements. On 1 June 2000, Georges Ruggiu, a Belgian national, upon his plea of guilty, was convicted of direct and public incitement to commit genocide and crimes against humanity and was sentenced to 12 years imprisonment on each of the counts, both sentences to run concurrently. The trial of Ignace Bagilishema, the mayor of Mbanza Commune, Kibuye Prefecture, is now complete and the judges are deliberating over the judgement.

For the period under review, the three Trial Chambers ruled on 223 pre-trial motions in the Butare and Cyangugu cases, the media cases, military cases, government cases and others involving approximately 33 indicted persons. The rights of the accused, guaranteed under article 20 of the ICTR's Statute, must be respected, and we must hear and respond to each of the motions, the motions filed by the prosecutor and defence counsel related to amendments to and objections to the indictments, the joinder or severance of trials, witness protection measures, disclosure of documents for trial and the assignment and withdrawal of counsel.

Initial appearance hearings were held for the entering of pleas in respect of new indictees, as well as those whose indictments were subsequently amended. The judges also conducted numerous status and pre-trial conferences to finalize all issues before proceeding to trial.

The ICTR Appeals Chamber has significantly alleviated the outstanding roll of appeals, some of which had caused a stay of trial proceedings. On 6 April 2000 the Appeals Chamber affirmed the conviction and sentence of 15 years imprisonment of Omar Serushago, and, on 19 October 2000, the Appeals Chamber affirmed the conviction and sentence of life imprisonment of the former Prime Minister of Rwanda, Jean Kambanda. The Appeals Chamber heard oral arguments in the appeals by Kayishema, Ruzindana and Akayesu at its session held in Arusha from 30 October to 2 November this year and is currently deliberating its judgements.

In all, 34 interlocutory appeals were lodged pertaining to the Tribunal's lack of jurisdiction, arrests, indictments issued and so on. Of these, 24 appeals have been finalized and four applications for review of the decisions of the Appeals Chamber were also lodged. The Appeals Chamber's review decision of 31 March 2000, in the case of The Prosecutor v. Jean Bosco Barayagwiza, underscored many of the challenges we face, including expeditious cooperation with Member States for the extradition of indicted suspects to the ICTR, the appointment of counsel of choice for indigent accused, an accused's right to be brought to trial without undue delay, and the impact of the discovery of additional facts relevant to the charges which were not known when the accused was initially indicted. These fundamental issues, among others addressed in the Appeals Chamber decision in Barayagwiza, not only provide authority and guidelines for the Trial Chambers, but form the basis for ground-breaking new law that will influence the development of international jurisprudence.

The first year of the second mandate can be characterized as a period of intensive judicial effort on the part of the Trial Chambers and the Appeals Chamber to clear the backlog of pre-trial motions and interlocutory appeals that were carried over from the previous mandate. The consequence of this year's pre-trial work is that we can plan and proceed with trials.

With regard to the utilization of courtrooms for the period under review, the Trial Chambers were seized of one trial and a large volume of pre-trial motions, as I mentioned. In the past, pre-trial motions were heard in court, with a full complement of court staff being in attendance and counsel for the prosecution and defence participating in the proceedings. The judges have amended the Rules of Procedure and Evidence to allow for motions to be considered solely on the briefs filed by the parties, instead of their having to hear the motion in open court. As a result of this amended rule, pre-trial motions are now disposed of more expeditiously, since there is no longer a need to schedule hearings on these matters around the availability of defence counsel. This procedure substantially reduces the Tribunal's costs, particularly fees and disbursements paid to defence counsel. Most of the pre-trial motions that have been filed since those amended rules were decided on brief, instead of in hearings in court, thus reducing the use of the courtrooms for the period under review.

The use of courtrooms was further reduced when court dates were vacated due to trials not commencing as originally scheduled. This was because court documents were not translated on time and complete disclosure of trial materials was not made to the defence. One such case is the media case, involving three accused persons. This trial, which was originally scheduled for 29 May 2000, was moved to 5 June 2000, rescheduled for 18 September 2000, and finally began on 23 October 2000. The reason for all this was difficulties over the translation of court documents and the disclosure of supporting documents that were filed by the prosecutor.

These difficulties have to be more effectively addressed by the administration of the Tribunal. These matters are not within the control of the judges, yet they greatly affect our work.

In some instances, trials could not begin because of pending interlocutory appeals -- for instance, in the case of Semanza.

During the past year, the nine trial and five appeals judges have worked closely together to envision solutions for the apparent delays in the commencement of trials. All 14 judges convened at the seventh, eighth and ninth plenary sessions, which were held at the seat of the ICTR, in Arusha, to discuss judicial and policy issues concerning the ICTR and to revise the ICTR Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

For the first time since the Tribunals have been in existence, a seminar of all judges from the two Tribunals was held in the United Kingdom from 29 September to 1 October 2000. I thank the Government of Great Britain for hosting the seminar and the Office of Legal Affairs at United Nations Headquarters for taking the initiative to organize the seminar. All in all, therefore, this first year of our second mandate has been a dynamic one for the ICTR.

I should now like to deal with the prospects for the year 2001. The positive consequence of the judicial, administrative and prosecutorial endeavours during the past year has been to prepare the ground for uninterrupted trials. Next year, all three Trial Chambers will hold simultaneous trials, often twin-tracking, with two trials per Chamber. Joint trials involving the media, Cyangugu and Semanza cases, which began this year, will continue into next year. New trials have been scheduled for early next year: the Ntakirutimana -- (father and son) -- trial is scheduled to commence on 23 April 2001; the Butare case, involving six accused, is scheduled to begin in April. With regard to the Government cases, three trials involving six Government ministers are scheduled to begin early next year. The military case, involving four accused, is expected to commence in June 2001.

We want to assure members that we are determined to do our utmost to complete the cases of the 35 persons awaiting trial within the period of the mandate. We cannot at this stage predict the number of new suspects that may be indicted -- this is under consideration by the Prosecutor. Three new indictees have recently been transferred to the Tribunal by the Governments of Tanzania, France and the United Kingdom, and another person is due to arrive from Denmark this week. We thank the Governments of those Member States for their cooperation.

The Appeals Chamber has requested an additional two judges to enable it to meet the extra workload. At the plenary meeting of judges on 18 February 2000, the judges unanimously supported the recommendations of the Expert Group for the enlargement of the Appeals Chamber serving the ICTR and ICTY. It was agreed at the plenary that the two additional judges shall be drawn from the pool of existing ICTR judges. and they will serve in The Hague as members of the ICTR and ICTY Appeals Chamber.

Many of the logistical and administrative difficulties that were highlighted in the past as causes of delay in the progress of trials have been and are being addressed by the judges and the Registrar. The judges continue to stress that the focal point for the administration of services and resources should be the judicial functions of the Tribunal. We have now reached a critical stage: trials will begin next year, and greater resources and proper personnel for translation services and for the preparation of judgments and court management are essential.

We are grateful to the Secretary-General, Mr. Kofi Annan, for his cooperation and assistance. In particular, we thank the Secretary-General for commissioning a report on the ICTR's court management services by a court consultant with 39 years of experience. In order to fulfil the projected judicial calendar, we need the requisite resources and administrative support that are suggested in this report. We look forward to the implementation of the recommendations in this report for the enhanced functioning of the ICTR.

In conclusion, on behalf of all of the personnel of the ICTR, I thank the Assembly for its interest and support. Many representatives of Member States have paid visits to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania. We welcome those visits and invite representatives to witness firsthand our efforts in creating a respected system of international criminal justice, breathing life into the Organization's vision and fulfilling its mandate.

Mr. Alabrune (France)

I have the honour to speak on behalf of the European Union. The Central and Eastern European countries associated with the European Union -- Bulgaria, the Czech Republic, Estonia, Hungary, Latvia, Lithuania, Poland, Romania and Slovenia -- and the associated countries Cyprus, Malta and Turkey, as well as the European Free Trade Association member of the European Economic Area -- Iceland -- align themselves with this statement.

Like the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) must judge crimes that are among the most serious to have ever been committed against human beings. The Tribunal was the first international jurisdiction to hand down convictions for genocide. The atrocities that led to those verdicts represent some of the darkest moments in human history. The verdicts themselves are therefore proof of the international community's intention to put an end to the impunity that too often in the past accompanied violations of international humanitarian law and serious human rights offences.

The European Union supports in particular the Tribunal's efforts to gather proof of violence of a sexual or sexist nature inflicted in connection with the events admitted to its competence. It is vital that the victims of these crimes be assured that they will benefit from counselling and support services and that their attackers will answer to the Tribunal.

The texts establishing the Tribunal state clearly that its goal is not only to put an end to impunity but also to prevent the recurrence of such atrocities. That goal should be pursued through a justice that is unflinching, respectful of the recognized principles of international penal law, and visible for all to see. The first verdicts to be handed down have shown that it is not possible for the perpetrators of crimes of genocide to escape from justice. The European Union notes in this regard the fact that the Prosecutor wishes to accord priority to crimes of genocide and complicity in genocide.

The fulfilment of these missions should also make a major contribution to the restoration of peace in the region, so tragically affected by the events of 1994. To this end, the Tribunal must meet numerous challenges as regards its workload and management.

The European Union notes with satisfaction that the creation of a third Chamber has contributed to speeding up procedures. It hails the progress made thanks to the modifications to the rules of procedure and evidence adopted in 1999. It encourages the Tribunal to make full use of its human and material resources and the Chambers to make full use of their rules of procedure, in order to enhance the efficiency of the judicial procedures of the Tribunal.

The European Union invites the ICTR, which works in close collaboration with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and shares the same Prosecutor and Appeals Chamber, to examine the fields in which improved coordination could impart even greater efficiency to the two institutions' procedures.

The European Union wishes to thank the President of the Tribunal, Ms. Pillay; the President of the Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, Mr. Claude Jorda; and the Prosecutor, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, for their proposals aimed at improving the efficiency of both international criminal tribunals. It hopes that the decisions that the Security Council might make on the proposed amendments to the Statute presented by the judges will help the Tribunal to continue working along these lines.

The European Union is aware of the difficulties faced by the Prosecutor's Office. It welcomes the energetic way in which the new Prosecutor, Ms. Carla Del Ponte, is approaching the tasks entrusted to her. It encourages the continuation of her efforts concerning the reform of the Kigali and Arusha offices.

Year after year, the Tribunal has encountered numerous administrative problems. While aware of the measures taken by the Registry to improve the Tribunal's management, the European Union notes nonetheless that very important matters, relating, for example, to financial oversight and to the responsibility of officials in regard to management, remain unresolved. This situation continues to be a source of very serious concern for us. Only the full implementation of the recommendations aimed at improving the Tribunal's operations will enable it to fulfil the important mission entrusted to it, under satisfactory conditions.

The European Union notes with satisfaction the support received by the ICTR from the many States that are contributing, in many ways, to the success of its mission. We would like also to thank all those States whose cooperation with the Tribunal has led to the arrest and detention of numerous suspects, including several former highly placed Rwandan officials.

The European Union welcomes the resumption of relations of trust and cooperation between the Tribunal and Rwanda, given concrete form by the appointment in 1999 of a Rwandan Government representative to the Tribunal, and by the visit to Kigali of Ms. Del Ponte in May 2000.

We are grateful also to the Government of the Tribunal's host country, the United Republic of Tanzania, for having amended its immigration procedures so as to facilitate the appearance not only of witnesses but also of the accused, and also for striving to preserve the anonymity of those people and to afford them protection when circumstances warrant.

The European Union renews its support for the Tribunal's information programme, which aims to disseminate knowledge about its activities. This programme should be pursued and developed so as to make better known -- especially among those peoples that suffered directly from the atrocities -- the efforts of the Tribunal and the international community not to let the heinous crimes committed in 1994 go unpunished.

The European Union invites all States to respond to the Secretary-General's appeal to United Nations Members to agree to the use of their prisons to detain those convicted by the Tribunal for the duration of their sentence. Mali was the first State to sign an agreement of this kind, and the European Union notes with satisfaction that several other United Nations Members have indicated their readiness to follow this example.

The European Union wishes to restate its commitment to the Tribunal and its work. We thank the Tribunal's judges and officers and in particular its President, Ms. Pillay, who is completing the second year of her mandate, for their contribution to the upholding of justice.

We also note the contribution of the work of the ICTR to the Preparatory Committee for the International Criminal Court. The practice and experience amassed by the ICTR provide a valuable source for determining the rules that will enable serious violations of international humanitarian law to be prosecuted and punished, regardless of where they are committed or of the identity of the accused party. The ICTR's experience has raised awareness of the importance of giving victims access to the Tribunal and of protecting them.

The ICTR is now entering its phase of maturity. The Tribunal's caseload and burden of responsibility are heavy and demanding, but, with the support of the international community, the Tribunal should be able to overcome these difficulties and thereby make the contribution asked of it in the affirmation of justice against the direst crimes and the consolidation of peace in the Great Lakes region.