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).

The Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs and United Nations Legal Counsel, Mr. Miguel de Serpa Soares, visited the United Republic of Tanzania this week to sign an agreement between the United Nations and the United Republic of Tanzania concerning the headquarters of the Arusha branch of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) in Tanzania.

On 4 and 5 November 2013, the leading officials of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) were in Kigali, Rwanda, to meet with senior officials of the Rwandan Government. This is the first joint visit by the ICTR and the Mechanism to Rwanda.

President Theodor Meron today presented the first Annual Report of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) to the UN General Assembly. In his first address to the General Assembly on behalf of the MICT, President Meron reported on the MICT’s work and called on Member States to take steps to ensure that the remaining fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) are arrested and brought to trial.

370 linear metres of records and two temporary records centres were handed over by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (“ICTR”) to the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (“Mechanism”) on Tuesday, 17 September 2013. The ICTR continues to prepare a third temporary records storage centre due for completion shortly.

The Prosecutor of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals, Mr Hassan B. Jallow, has designated Mr Mathias Marcussen, the Senior Legal Officer of the Mechanism OTP Hague Branch, as the Officer-in-Charge of the OTP pursuant to the Statute of the Mechanism.

Sredoje Lukić, former member of a group of local Bosnian Serb paramilitaries in the eastern Bosnian town of Višegrad, was transferred Wednesday, 21 August to Norway to serve the remainder of his 27 year sentence.

A status conference in the case of Augustin Ngirabatware v. The Prosecutor is scheduled to be held on Wednesday, 17 July 2013, at 14:00 hrs in Arusha, Tanzania (Judge Laity Kama courtroom, 4th floor Kilimanjaro).

The launch of the Hague Branch of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT or Mechanism) was marked by a ceremony held today in The Hague, which brought together over 200 international officials, government representatives from the former Yugoslavia, judges and staff of the ICTY and MICT, ICTR senior officials and the media.

The establishment of the Mechanism is an important part of the ICTY’s and ICTR’s Completion Strategies. The Mechanism is tasked with the continuation of essential functions of both Tribunals and the preservation of their legacy.