As part of the celebrations for its 20th anniversary, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) has launched today a new multilingual legacy website. The website features a tribute video narrated by actor Clarke Peters.

The new legacy website will be the virtual face of the ICTR after the Tribunal closes down. With the support of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, the website’s content will continue to be updated so that information on the work and achievements of the ICTR will remain accessible to future generations.

This week the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) is celebrating the 20th anniversary of its establishment. Celebrations started yesterday and will end with a commemoration on Saturday, 8 November 2014 in Arusha, Tanzania.

The Mechanism celebrates the World Day for Audiovisual Heritage by launching a website page dedicated to the archives of the International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda and the former Yugoslavia. 

President Theodor Meron yesterday presented the second Annual Report of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to the UN General Assembly. In his second address to the General Assembly on behalf of the MICT, President Meron reported on the MICT’s progress and noted that it faced two pre-eminent challenges: apprehension of individuals indicted by the ICTR but not yet arrested, and relocation of individuals who were acquitted or finished serving sentences.

Prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow today concludes his first official visit to the region in his capacity as Prosecutor of the MICT. As part of his week-long visit, the Prosecutor travelled to Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, and Croatia.

The media are invited to attend the signing of Memoranda of Understanding between MICT Prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow and prosecutors from Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) on Tuesday, 9 September 2014 in Sarajevo. These are technical agreements about the practicalities of access to evidence in The Hague. The agreements will be signed to formalise the working relationship between MICT and BiH prosecutors, as part of Prosecutor Jallow’s official visit to the country from 9 through 11 September 2014.

The MICT’s Prosecutor Hassan B. Jallow will pay an official visit to Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH), the Republic of Croatia (Croatia) and the Republic of Serbia (Serbia) from 7 through 13 September 2014. This is the Prosecutor’s first working visit to the region in his capacity as Prosecutor of the MICT, the institution gradually taking over the functions of the ICTY as it completes is remaining cases.

On 6-7 November 2014, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“ICTR”) is organising an International Symposium on the Legacy of the ICTR at its Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania.

With the ICTR’s closure scheduled for 2015, the Symposium aims to provide an opportunity for experts in the field of international justice to reflect on the ICTR’s contributions to the development of international humanitarian law, administration of justice, and promotion of the rule of law, particularly in the Great Lakes Region.

The Prosecutor of the MICT and the ICTR, Justice Hassan B Jallow, together with Ambassador Stephen Rapp, Office of Global Criminal Justice, US State Department, Mr Richard Muhumuza, Prosecutor-General, Rwandan National Public Prosecution Authority (NPPA), and INTERPOL today jointly launched the renewed International Fugitive Initiative in Kigali.

The purpose of the event was to renew the global effort to secure the arrest and trial of the remaining fugitives.

Together with International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) President Vagn Joensen, President Theodor Meron in his capacity as both ICTY and MICT President sent a letter to International Criminal Court (ICC) President Song today offering their congratulations on the Day of International Criminal Justice, a day that commemorates the adoption of the Rome Statute on 17 July 1998.