Genocide tribunal to cooperate with ex-Yugoslav tribunal

The International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia (ICTY) have agreed to undertake 13 initiatives jointly to speed up judicial proceedings in the UN courts, Internews reported Thursday. The ICTY registrar, Hans Holthuis, and ICTR Registrar Adama Dieng of Senegal made the announcement at a joint news conference on Thursday at the end of Holthuis' week-long visit to the ICTR in Arusha, Tanzania. Among the issues the tribunals have agreed to cooperate on are the management of the trial chambers including the appeals court; legal aid and defence issues and legal advisory and detention guidelines; library resources; outreach programmes; administration; public information and media relations; translations and use of satellite facilities between the two tribunals. The ICTY, based in The Hague, Netherlands, was established in 1993. Internews reported that it has since handed down 14 judgments. Nine trials for 16 defendants are in progress with 46 suspects in custody. The ICTR, created in late 1994, has since handed down nine verdicts, eight convictions and one acquittal. Trials for 17 defendants out of the 51 in custody are currently in progress at the Rwanda tribunal.