President of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Judge Theodor Meron, today presented the bi-annual progress report on the work of the Mechanism to the United Nations Security Council.

The Prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT / Mechanism) and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), Justice Hassan B. Jallow, today presented his latest bi-annual report on the work of the Mechanism to the United Nations Security Council.

As Rwanda’s official week of mourning draws to a close, the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals joined in reflections on the 20th commemoration of the genocide in Rwanda.

Hassan B. Jallow, Prosecutor of the ICTR and the MICT, issued a statement today to mark the 20th anniversary of the Rwandan genocide that began on 6 April, followed by a hundred days of the killing of a reported one million people because of their Tutsi ethnicity or because they belonged to other ethnic groups who stood up against the killing of innocent victims.

To commemorate the 20th Anniversary of the 1994 Genocide in Rwanda, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) today launched a new website entitled “The ICTR Remembers”.

The new website features an overview of the ICTR’s work in holding accountable persons responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda in 1994. 

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) marked today International Women’s Day in collaboration with the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) as a combined UN Office in Arusha, Tanzania. The theme of this year’s International Women’s Day was Instigating Change – Prevent and Address Violence against Women and Girls.

On 11 February the Arusha Spouses’ Association (ASA) received a donation in the amount of $ 4,040 for the funding of a water point at the Sombetini Primary School in Arusha, Tanzania. A unique initiative facilitated by the Office of the Registrar, the donation was raised by Mechanism personnel. The Mechanism's Principals – President Theodor Meron, Prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow and Registrar John Hocking – were also present at the ceremony, and were delighted to have the opportunity to help the school.

Milan Lukić, former leader of a group of local Bosnian Serb paramilitaries in the south-eastern Bosnian town of Višegrad, was transferred on Monday, 10 February to Estonia to serve his sentence. 

Milan Lukić was sentenced to life imprisonment by the Trial Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on 20 July 2009, and his sentence was affirmed by the ICTY Appeals Chamber on 4 December 2012.  Lukić was convicted for crimes against humanity and violations of the laws and customs of war committed in Višegrad during the 1992-1995 conflict.

A new international criminal justice research tool has been released online to facilitate public access to the vast collection of jurisprudence produced by the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). The ICTR/ICTY Case Law Database (CLD) will be an invaluable aid to professionals working in the field of international criminal law.

President of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), Judge Theodor Meron, today updated the United Nations Security Council on the work of the Mechanism as it moves forward in its second year of existence.

The President described how, following the opening of the Mechanism’s Hague branch on 1 July 2013, the institution is now fully formed, operating on two continents and inheriting work from two related but distinct tribunals: the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR).