By Faustine Kapama
THE Registrar of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), Mr Abubacarr Tambadou has pledged to continue sustaining the current co-operation between the Court and the Judiciary of Tanzania.
Speaking during a visit to the Chief Justice of Tanzania, Prof Ibrahim Juma in his office on Wednesday in Dar es Salam, the Registrar said that he is ready to continue strengthening the relationship and cooperation between Tanzania and IRMCT in the national interest.
"I am happy to accept my request to meet with you, despite having many responsibilities, the purpose of my visit to you is to formally introduce myself and ask to develop professional cooperation between us," Mr Tambadou is quoted as saying in a statement issued on Wednesday.
According to the statement issued by the Judiciary's Directorate of Information and Communications, Mr Tambadou also pointed out that the Tanzanian Judiciary should use the International Criminal Tribunal as a productive knowledge of international law.
On his part, the Chief Justice promised the Registrar to provide further co-operation and to visit him in Arusha. Prof Juma took the opportunity to inform the Registrar that the Judiciary of Tanzania was in the process of making improvement of its infrastructures to bring justice and services closer to the people.
Likewise, he told Mr Tambadou that the Judiciary is currently in the process of celebrating 100th anniversary of the establishment of the High Court of Tanzania.
The United Nations Secretary-General, António Guterres appointed Mr Tambadou of the Republic of Gambia as the new Registrar of the Mechanism effective 1 July 2020.
Mr Tambadou succeeded Mr Olufemi Elias of Nigeria, who has served as Registrar between January 1, 2017 and June 30, 2020. The other is John Hocking from Australia, who served in that capacity between January 18, 2012 and December 31, 2016.
The IRMCT is an international court established by the UN Security Council in 2010 to perform remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) following the completion of those tribunals' respective mandates.
In the early 1990s, the Security Council established two criminal courts whose purpose was to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide.
The first ICTY was established in 1993 to investigate crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars. The second court, the ICTR, was established the following year to address crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide.
Both the ICTY and the ICTR were meant to be temporary institutions that would conclude after their mandate to investigate crimes and prosecute individuals was completed.
Although both tribunals have completed substantially all of their mandates, there are residual functions that will not be accomplished for many more years.
For example, future trials may be held once remaining ICTR fugitives are captured, convicted persons may still petition for early release, protective orders for witnesses may need to be modified, and the archives that contain confidential documents need to be safeguarded.
In order to oversee the residual functions of the ICTY and ICTR in an efficient manner, the Security Council passed Resolution 1966 on December 22, 2010, which created the Mechanism.
The Mechanism comprises of two branches. One branch covers functions inherited from the ICTR and is located in Arusha, Tanzania. It commenced functioning on 1 July 2012. The other branch is located in The Hague, Netherlands and began operating on 1 July 2013.
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