Arusha, The Hague, 14 October 2022– The President of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism), Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, today met with the President of the 77th Session of the United Nations General Assembly, His Excellency Ambassador Csaba Kőrösi of Hungary, at United Nations Headquarters in New York.
President Gatti Santana congratulated President Kőrösi on his election as President of the General Assembly, welcoming his dedication to multilateralism and to the promotion of solidarity, sustainability and science. In turn, she outlined the priorities of her Presidency and her focus on the completion of the Mechanism’s activities. In this regard, she briefed His Excellency on the substantive progress made by the Mechanism, in particular with respect to its judicial caseload. President Gatti Santana highlighted the commencement of the trial in the case of Prosecutor v. Félicien Kabuga, and the anticipated conclusion of appeal proceedings in Prosecutor v. Stanišić and Simatović by the end of June 2023. She explained that these are the last two core cases before the Mechanism, as the remaining four fugitives of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda are expected to be tried in Rwanda.
President Gatti Santana then emphasised the crucial importance of Member State cooperation and support in a number of key areas of the Mechanism’s work, including the enforcement of sentences, the relocation of acquitted and released persons and contempt matters, as well as in relation to the Mechanism’s budget.
Finally, President Gatti Santana expressed her serious concern regarding the rise in genocide denial, revisionism, and glorification of war criminals in many parts of the world and discussed the need of countering such trends.
For his part, President Kőrösi thanked President Gatti Santana for the comprehensive briefing. He took note of the Mechanism’s existing challenges, including in relation to cooperation, and discussed more generally international justice and accountability.
President Gatti Santana is in New York to present the tenth Annual Report of the Mechanism to the General Assembly on Wednesday, 19 October 2022. This is the President’s first mission to United Nations Headquarters since assuming her role on 1 July 2022.
