Today, at the Hague branch of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), a Trial Chamber composed of Judge Burton Hall (Presiding) of the Bahamas, Judge Joseph Masanche of Tanzania, and Judge Seon Ki Park of South Korea, concluded hearing witness testimony in the trial of Jovica Stanišić and Franko Simatović. As the Presiding Judge said in his closing remarks, this is a milestone in particular in the context of a pandemic.

In the spirit of promoting greater collaboration and partnerships between the Arusha Branch of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (“Mechanism”) and other judicial institutions hosted in Arusha, United Republic of Tanzania, as well as the local authorities in Arusha, the Registrar of the Mechanism, Mr. Abubacarr Tambadou this week paid courtesy visits on the President of the East African Court of Justice (“EACJ”), Dr. Emmanuel Ugirashebuja, and the Regional Commissioner of Arusha, Honourable Iddi Hassan Kimanta on 22 and 24 September 2020 respectively.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) today launched a new Unified Court Records database (UCR), which for the first time brings together all public judicial records of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Mechanism.

The conflicts in the former Yugoslavia led to the disappearance of over 35000 people. While approximately 25000 cases have been resolved, the families of over 10,000 missing persons are still searching for their loved ones, more than two decades after the conflicts. The search for the remaining missing is a humanitarian imperative, and an obligation to the families.