The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, today presented the Mechanism’s thirteenth Annual Report to the United Nations General Assembly in New York.
At the outset, President Gatti Santana congratulated Her Excellency Ms. Annalena Baerbock of the Federal Republic of Germany on her election as President of the 80th session of the General Assembly, noting that she shares Her Excellency’s vision that the United Nations’ past achievements must be protected while boldly adapting the Organization to effectively face current and future challenges; a vision that is being applied with equal vigour to the Mechanism.
President Gatti Santana observed that, with the consistent support of the General Assembly, the Mechanism and its predecessors – the International Criminal Tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and for Rwanda – have delivered justice, documented historical facts, and developed law and best practices, which are foundational to today’s international accountability efforts across the globe. The President underscored that this legacy must be protected and the important work of responsibly concluding the justice cycle must continue. The Mechanism is committed to this task, she stated, and will be a partner in change that reduces costs, transfers or terminates functions that the Mechanism need not execute, and upholds the principled and just application of the law. Indeed, the Mechanism is determined to ensure that the General Assembly’s considerable investment in international criminal justice is not lost.
President Gatti Santana explained that the Mechanism remains seised of a number of mandated tasks, including adjudicating residual judicial matters, supervising the enforcement of sentences, supporting national jurisdictions in bringing perpetrators of international crimes to justice, monitoring referred cases, and managing access to and preservation of its archives and those of the ad hoc Tribunals. She highlighted that these residual activities – like the arrests and trials that preceded them – are of paramount importance, stating: “Verdicts must not only be entered; sentences must be enforced. Reconciliation is advanced by comprehensive accountability. Protecting and ensuring access to the judicially-established facts is critical today due to growing and systemic revisionism and genocidal denial.”
Next, President Gatti Santana referred to the extensive, cross-organ collaboration in which the Mechanism has engaged to support the United Nations Secretary-General in preparing two reports that the Security Council requested in resolution 2740 (2024) concerning the future of certain functions. She reiterated that it is for the Secretary-General to recommend, and the Council to decide, whether these functions should be transferred. In the meantime, the Mechanism has continued to undertake efforts to actively align itself with the Council’s vision of the Mechanism as a small, temporary institution. These include substantially reducing its staffing and overall resources since 2020, changing its legal framework to limit the prospect of resource-intensive proceedings and processes, and streamlining its operations in relation to the supervision of sentence enforcement.
President Gatti Santana emphasised, however, that the Mechanism’s dedication to efficiently completing its work requires complementary assistance from States. In this regard, she drew attention to the three persons still in the United Nations Detention Unit in The Hague and the five persons who were acquitted or completed their sentences and were relocated to Niger in 2021 – all of whom currently remain under the Mechanism’s care, which results in significant financial burdens.
Finally, President Gatti Santana remarked on the clear message sent by the Mechanism and its predecessor Tribunals that possessing the power and resources to commit mass atrocities today does not insulate any individual from accountability tomorrow. She stated that it “is also a reminder that we cannot falter in this last mile of the justice cycle and risk undoing all that has come before”. The President assured the Assembly that the Mechanism stands ready to partner with it and the Security Council to identify novel solutions to complete its work fairly, efficiently, and at an appropriate cost. In concluding, she reminded the Assembly that its commitment to this mission remains essential and thanked Member States for their continued support.
