Security Council extends deadline for nominating judges to tribunal

The UN Security Council decided on 11 October to extend the deadline for nominations of temporary judges to the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, after the number of candidates nominated for the posts fell short of the required minimum.

UN News reported that the decision to extend the deadline from 14 October to 15 November, was conveyed in a letter to UN Secretary-General Kofi Annan. He had earlier told the Council that the number of nominations was fewer than the mandated minimum of 22 that the Council should transmit to the UN General Assembly for making the final selection, it said. It went on to say that in August, the Council had agreed to amend the Tribunal's Statute to establish a pool of temporary judges so that trials could be expedited. The list of candidate judges was to have been transmitted to the Assembly within 60 days of that decision, which was 14 October.

The Council created the Tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, in November 1994 to prosecute people suspected of having played a part in the genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law perpetrated in Rwanda between 1 January 1994 and 31 December 1994. UN News reported that the Tribunal "may also deal with the prosecution of Rwandan citizens responsible for genocide and other such violations of international law committed in neighbouring states over the same period".