General Assembly Discusses Annual Report of International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

General Assembly Discusses Annual Report of International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

(Note: Due to the financial liquidity crisis affecting the United Nations and the resulting constraints, this meeting was not covered in English.)

The General Assembly holds its annual debate today on the work of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals.

Graciela Gatti Santana, President of the Mechanism, will present its thirteenth annual report (document A/80/275) on its activities from 1 July 2024 to 30 June 2025.

The report notes that following its fifth review of the mandate of the Mechanism, and the conclusion of all active core crimes cases and appeals, the Security Council adopted resolution 2740 (2024) in June 2024.

The resolution conveyed two clear messages. The first was that the Mechanism's residual functions remain essential to the justice cycle, and Member State contributions are vital to ensuring their fair and efficient completion. The second was that active and diligent planning for the transfer of the Mechanism's longer-term functions is crucial for responsibly scaling down its activities and resources and achieving the institution's closure, in line with its temporary nature.

In this context, and in response to the Security Council's request for the Secretary-General to report on the potential transfer of the functions of supervision of sentence enforcement and assistance to national jurisdictions, and on the budgetary aspects of potential archive locations, the Mechanism conducted a detailed analysis and provided comprehensive input to support the Secretary-General's reporting.

The report notes that the Mechanism also undertook a broader strategic review, including a forward-looking assessment of whether additional residual judicial functions could gradually be transferred to national jurisdictions, or whether they must remain at the international level to preserve equal treatment and the integrity of the legacy of the ad hoc Tribunals. This work is ongoing.

The Mechanism was established in 2010 by the UN Security Council to perform a number of essential functions previously carried out by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia). In carrying out these essential functions the Mechanism maintains the legacies of these two pioneering ad hoc international criminal courts and strives to reflect best practices in the field of international criminal justice.