President Gatti Santana hosts a dialogue on developed practices in the enforcement of international sentences

Today, the President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, was pleased to host a working meeting in The Hague with President Tomoko Akane and Registrar Osvaldo Zavala Giler from the International Criminal Court (ICC), President Ekaterina Trendafilova and Registrar Fidelma Donlon from the Kosovo Specialist Chambers (KSC), as well as representatives from the Ministry of Justice and Security of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, the Ministry's Custodial Institutions Agency, and the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC).

President Gatti Santana opened the dialogue by warmly welcoming attendees and introducing a number of enforcement-related matters of relevance to those present. She then handed the floor to Mr. Terry Hackett, Head of the Persons Deprived of Liberty Division of the ICRC, which serves as an independent and neutral monitor for the Mechanism, the ICC, and the KSC with respect to conditions of imprisonment. Mr. Hackett outlined areas of interest from the confidential independent thematic review on the Mechanism's "end-of-justice cycle" that the ICRC concluded earlier in the year. The ensuing discussion focused on humanitarian issues and related developed practices in the realm of sentence enforcement, offering participants the opportunity to speak about their direct experiences and challenges in this respect. During these fruitful exchanges, the Principals of the participating courts identified shared priorities and areas of potential collaboration.

In closing the event, President Gatti Santana reiterated her sincere gratitude to the ICRC and the Dutch authorities for their respective roles in assisting the Mechanism to fulfil a critical part of its mandate. The Mechanism's experience in supervising the enforcement of sentences is an important part of its legacy and the President was pleased that the insights distilled in the ICRC's thematic review will be of benefit to others who can build on this practical knowledge.