President Gatti Santana addresses United Nations General Assembly

The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, today presented the Mechanism’s fourteenth annual report to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.

At the outset, President Gatti Santana wished His Excellency Dr. Khalilur Rahman of Bangladesh every success in his role as President of the 81st session of the General Assembly, noting that his focus on peace and security, respect for international law, and commitment to multilateralism is essential in these times.

President Gatti Santana then referred to the award of the Nobel Peace Prize to Navi Pillay noting that she had served as the first woman Judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and its second President and had participated in landmark rulings that advanced accountability and justice for crimes that shock the conscience. President Gatti Santana highlighted that the justice cycle that commenced with those rulings is not complete, and that the Assembly’s support now at the end of the justice cycle is as important as the support provided to start it. She emphasized, in particular, the United Nations’ ongoing obligations to guarantee the fundamental rights of those convicted, as well as the judicial protection of thousands of victims and witnesses who courageously testified. She further stressed that the archives managed by the Mechanism are the property of the United Nations and require continued management for permanent preservation.

President Gatti Santana continued by assuring the Assembly that the responsible and appropriate conclusion of the Mechanism’s justice cycle is within reach. She referred, in particular, to the comprehensive strategic plan that the Mechanism presented to the Security Council in May 2026, which, building upon recommendations of the Secretary-General and the United Nations Office of Internal Oversight Services, provides a blueprint for the conclusion of all activities with clear implementation timelines. The plan specifically identifies which functions can end, which can be transferred, and those which must remain at the international level. In this regard, President Gatti Santana emphasised her unequivocal support for the Secretary-General’s recommendation that the authority over pardon, commutation of sentence and early release remain at the international level. She highlighted that retaining international jurisdiction on such matters safeguards the consistent application of the governing legal framework, legal certainty, and the involvement of judges familiar with the relevant cases, conflicts and sentencing practice.

However, as President Gatti Santana noted, the Mechanism requires a Security Council resolution to enact the radical transformation set out in the strategic plan. In the interim, the General Assembly has a critical role to play in ensuring that the United Nations’ investment in international criminal justice is not lost.

President Gatti Santana observed that the recent “hero’s funeral” that Mr. Ratko Mladić was accorded in Belgrade underscores the potential perils of faltering in this final phase of the justice cycle. She referred to the observations of a number of United Nations experts and special rapporteurs who warned that public actions that appear to honour individuals found responsible for atrocities “risk undermining decades of efforts to seek truth, end impunity and achieve justice and reparations for these crimes”, and that “[i]f such blatant genocide denial succeeds, it will roll back international criminal accountability gains against impunity that were forged in the fires of Nuremberg and Tokyo, and the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda.”

Concluding, President Gatti Santana stated: “The years that have passed since the commission of these crimes do not diminish our collective responsibility to ensure that justice is done. The Mechanism, on behalf of the United Nations, continues to faithfully and effectively sustain the international legal order established through the decades of your support. While we wait for a decision from the Security Council, we ask that you, the General Assembly, provide the support needed to sustain our mandated activities. By doing so, this body will affirm that the United Nations keeps its promises and lives up to the obligations of its Charter.”

President Gatti Santana concludes today her mission to New York. In addition to presenting the annual report of the Mechanism in accordance with Article 32(1) of the Statute of the Mechanism, she held several bilateral meetings with representatives of Member States, high-level United Nations officials, as well as the President of the General Assembly, H.E. Dr. Rahman.