Brammertz addressed the Security Council: Political authorities must take responsibility for their promises

Prosecutor of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Courts Serge Brammertz addressed the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) today. The Prosecutor informed the UNSC about the planned schedule for concluding judicial proceedings in The Hague.

After the pronouncement of the second-instance verdict in the Šešelj case, only three cases remain. It is anticipated that the appeals process in the Karadžić case will be concluded by the end of 2018, while the trial in the Stanišić and Simatović case and the appeals process in the Mladić case are expected to be concluded by the end of 2020.

At that point, only a possible appeals process in the Stanišić and Simatović case would remain. Regarding the search for the remaining eight fugitives indicted by the ICTY, the Prosecutor informed the UNSC about the efforts of the Prosecutor's Office to locate and arrest these fugitives. He stated the following: “Although the challenges in searching for the fugitives are too great to guarantee a positive outcome, the Prosecutor's Office can promise that it will spare no effort.

The victims of the genocide against the Tutsi people in Rwanda expect nothing less.” Prosecutor Brammertz then informed the UNSC about the search for missing persons in the former Yugoslavia. He noted that many actors have taken the initiative to raise this issue with the Prosecutor's Office and seek its assistance. He emphasized the following: “Efforts are urgently needed to strengthen the search for missing persons. Ten thousand families – from all sides – still do not know the fate of their loved ones.”

The Prosecutor informed the UNSC that the International Committee of the Red Cross is launching a five-year strategy to support the search for missing persons, and that the Prosecutor's Office is also committed to providing every possible assistance. However, he said, “the authorities have made many promises to support this work that remain only on paper,” and “political will is also needed to create conditions for witnesses to come forward with information.”

Prosecutor Brammertz concluded with the following words: “The search for missing persons is a humanitarian imperative. It is time for political authorities to take responsibility for their promises and to show courage and set aside all other factors.”