Global perspective Human stories

Security Council urges all countries to cooperate with UN war crimes tribunals

Security Council urges all countries to cooperate with UN war crimes tribunals

The Security Council today stressed the importance of full cooperation by all countries with the work of the United Nations war crimes tribunals dealing with the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda.

In a statement read out at a formal meeting by its current President, Ambassador Alfonso Valdivieso of Colombia, the Council noted that all States, including Yugoslavia and Rwanda, are obliged under its resolutions to cooperate fully with the International Criminal Tribunals.

The statement said countries had an obligation to comply with the requests by the UN courts for the arrest or detention of indictees and their surrender or transfer to the Tribunals, to make witnesses available and to assist in ongoing investigations.

"The Security Council also stresses the importance of constructive dialogue between the Tribunals and the governments concerned to resolve any outstanding issues affecting the work of the Tribunals that arise in the course of their cooperation but insists that such dialogue or lack of dialogue must not be used by the States as an excuse for failure to discharge their obligations to cooperate fully with the Tribunals as required by Security Council resolutions and the Statutes of the Tribunals," the statement said.

The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) was established by the Council in May 1993 to address the serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991, and as a response to the threat those crimes posed to international peace and security.

A year later, the Council set up the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha, Tanzania, to prosecute people responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda between 1 January and 31 December 1994.

The ICTR may also deal with the prosecution of Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other violations of international law committed in neighbouring States over the same period.