JUST IN: ICTR Expected to close down this year

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is primed to finally close down during this year, 2015, after over twenty years of prosecuting persons who played leading roles in the Rwandan genocide in 1994 that claimed the lives of more than half a million innocent civilians of mainly Tutsi and some moderate Hutus who sympathized with them.

In preparation for its closure, the Tribunal separated 117 out of 414 staff members between October and December 2014 that were on board at the beginning of 2014. The number consists of 91 international and 26 local staff members. Although this is part of an ongoing process of implementing the ICTR Completion Strategy, in accordance with the UN Security Council Resolution 1966 of 22 December 2010, it represents the largest number of staff who have been downsized by the Tribunal and signifies the near completion of its mandate.

It is expected that about an additional 159 international staff members will be separated during 2015. Should everything proceed according to schedule, the ICTR will shut down on 30 September 2015. This date has been given to both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.

Only one major case remains for the Tribunal to complete after which it will release the remaining staff members and close permanently. The Butare appeal case, involving 6 accused persons among whom is Pauline Nyiramasuhuko, the only woman that the ICTR has tried for genocide, is expected to hold its oral arguments in Arusha during April 2015 and judgement is expected to be delivered in August 2015.

Regarding what will happen to the functions and activities that will outlive the ICTR, the UN Security Council established a Residual Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (the Mechanism), in its Resolution 1966 (2010), to take over the remaining functions of the Tribunal and that of its sister Tribunal, the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The Mechanism has already taken over some of the ongoing functions of the ICTR, including the enforcement of sentences of those convicted and sentenced by the Tribunal, the tracking, arrest and prosecution of the three top priority fugitives who remain at large as well as the care and protection of witnesses.