Yugoslav War Crimes Court to Gain 3 Judges

The Security Council on Wednesday authorized the election of three more judges to the international war crimes tribunal for the former Yugoslav federation, reflecting the growing number of suspects in custody accused of atrocities committed during the war in the Balkans.

The decision follows by a few weeks the expansion of a similar tribunal in Arusha, Tanzania, that is prosecuting suspects in the 1994 genocide of mostly ethnic Tutsis in Rwanda.

The United States also has proposed establishing a third U.N. court, to put on trial surviving officials of the Khmer Rouge responsible for the extermination of more than 1 million people in Cambodia from 1975 to 1979.

The increased activity comes as more than 100 nations prepare to send representatives to Rome next month for final negotiations on a treaty to create a permanent international criminal court to consider prosecutions of national leaders and others accused of war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity.

The improving records of the tribunals for the Balkans and Rwanda are believed by supporters to have increased international backing for a strong permanent court. Several council representatives voiced support during Wednesday’s debate for a permanent court.

After an initial period of inactivity, the 5-year-old tribunal for the former Yugoslav federation, based in The Hague, has 26 suspects in custody and is running out of room to house and conduct proceedings against them. The Arusha tribunal, meanwhile, recently recorded its first conviction, the guilty plea of former Rwandan Prime Minister Jean Kambanda.

On Wednesday, the 15-member Security Council unanimously approved a third trial chamber, with three new judges, for the Balkans tribunal at the request of Judge Gabrielle Kirk McDonald of Texas, the court president.

In an April 16 letter to the council, McDonald noted that, without the additional space, some defendants might have to wait until 2000 for trial.

The situation will worsen, McDonald added, if any of the 47 indicted suspects still at large enters custody. For weeks now, reports have circulated in Europe that the No. 1 suspect, former Bosnian Serb leader Radovan Karadzic, may be negotiating his surrender to the tribunal.

The United States co-sponsored the council action Wednesday along with Britain, Costa Rica, France, Japan, Kenya, Slovenia and Sweden.

Bill Richardson, U.S. ambassador to the U.N., called the decision “an affirmation of the important work already completed by the tribunal and of the still daunting task at hand.”