Security Council clarifies nationality rules for judges at UN war crimes tribunals
Security Council clarifies nationality rules for judges at UN war crimes tribunals
The Security Council today amended the rules of the United Nations International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda to clarify the national status of judges with citizenship of two or more countries that might serve on the two courts.
Acting unanimously, the Council adopted resolution 1411 which recognizes that, for the purposes of membership to the two Tribunals, judges should be regarded as bearing only the nationality of the country in which they ordinarily exercise civil and political rights.
Because of the initial small size of the courts, their statutes had been written to ensure a diversity of members. But with the expansion in the number of judges, today's move by the Council was necessary to take into account some nominees to the bench who might bear the nationalities of two or more countries; in fact, one such judge has already been elected to one of the Tribunals.