On 19 January 2019, Judge Carmel Agius, of Malta, assumed office as President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), following his appointment by the United Nations Secretary-General on 30 June 2018 to a term expiring on 30 June 2020.

Dear Colleagues,

As I prepare to step down from my role as President of the Mechanism, I wanted to take a moment to express to you my sincere appreciation for all your hard work and contributions to the Mechanism.

On Tuesday, 15 January 2019, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) elected Judge Mustapha El Baaj of Morocco to the judicial roster of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism).

Judge El Baaj is currently serving as a Counsellor at the Court of Cassation in Rabat, Morocco. Judge El Baaj has also served as Deputy Crown Prosecutor-General of Morocco since 2008, a visiting Professor at the Law Faculty of Meknés, Morocco, since 2004 and as First Deputy Crown Prosecutor in The Court of First Instance in Meknés since 1996. 

The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Theodor Meron, concluded his final visit to the United Republic of Tanzania (Tanzania) on 9 January 2019. During his visit, President Meron met with Dr. Damas Ndumbaro, Tanzanian's Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and East African Cooperation, and with the “Friends of the Mechanism”, a group of foreign diplomats in Dar es Salaam who closely follow and support the work of the Mechanism, to discuss matters related to the work of the Mechanism.

On Friday, 21 December 2018, the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) elected Judge Yusuf Aksar of Turkey to the judicial roster of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism).

Judge Aksar has been a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration since 2016 and an ad hoc Judge of the European Court of Human Rights since 2015. He is also currently serving as a Professor and Dean of the Faculty of Law of the Maltepe University in Istanbul, Turkey.

The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) received a visit from the Ambassador of the Kingdom of Belgium to Tanzania, His Excellency Peter Van Acker, at the premises of the Mechanism’s Arusha branch on Wednesday, 12 December 2018.

Representatives from the Mechanism’s three organs warmly welcomed the Belgian Ambassador, provided an overview of the functions and structure of the Mechanism and thanked the Government of Belgium for its support to the Mechanism and its work.

Prosecutor Serge Brammertz of the Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) today addressed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC).

He began by providing an update regarding cases transferred from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia: the appeals in Karadžić and Mladić, and the retrial in Stanišić and Simatović.

The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Theodor Meron, today presented his final report to the United Nations Security Council (Council) as President of the Mechanism, highlighting the most notable developments in the Mechanism’s work.

The Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Mr. Olufemi Elias, today at the premises of the Mechanism in The Hague, opened the exhibition entitled ‘Multilingual Justice from Nuremberg to The Hague’, highlighting the work of interpreters in international criminal justice.

On Thursday, 6 December 2018, the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), received a delegation of 156 cadets from the Tanzanian Military Academy, Monduli, at the premises of the Mechanism’s Arusha branch.