Tribunal seeks to combat alleged racism

International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) Registrar Adama Dieng plans a series of initiatives to promote tolerance in the workplace and to combat alleged or potential issues of racism, racial discrimination and intolerance, the Hirondelle News Agency reported on Tuesday from Arusha, Tanzania. “In every multiracial or multicultural set-up, these kinds of issues arise,” Kingsley Moghalu of Nigeria was quoted by Hirondelle as saying. “The ICTR is no different.” But he said that, as a UN institution, the ICTR had a duty to tackle such issues. The ICTR will first ask its staff to anonymously complete a questionnaire on issues of racism, discrimination and intolerance. The aim, according to Moghalu, is to “compile scientific data on the real feelings and attitudes of staff of the Tribunal to these issues as they relate to the Tribunal’s workplace”. The ICTR’s various sections will then hold meetings to discuss the survey results, each meeting aided by an independent facilitator. The announcement follows last week’s UN conference against racism in Durban, South Africa. In a statement on Friday, the ICTR said it “identifies with the goal of the UN to eliminate all forms of racism and intolerance. By continuing its judicial work in dispensing justice for crimes rooted in discrimination and looking inward to ensure that the ICTR continues to practice what it preaches, the ICTR intends to remain an important positive example of the idea of tolerance.” Allegations of racism at the ICTR arose in May with the simultaneous termination of work contracts of several ICTR staff. Four were African, one Asian and one Jordanian. Some ICTR staff claimed these people were victims of racism, while others claimed they had been sacked for inefficiency. “There are a few instances that have happened in this Tribunal in which people have voiced the view that perhaps developments have had to do with racism, with discrimination and so on,” Hirondelle quoted Moghalu as saying. “Whether or not that is true we do not know. But this exercise is a proactive exercise to prevent these types of things from happening and to promote an atmosphere of tolerance among the staff.”