Dáil Éireann debate -
Thursday, 7 Oct 1993

Vol. 434 No. 3

Written Answers. - Establishment of International War Crimes Tribunal.

Pat Cox

Question:

80 Mr. Cox asked the Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs the steps, if any Ireland is taking in relation to the establishment of an International War Crimes Tribunal; whether any Irish nominees for membership of the court have been sought; whether such appointment is being made; and if he will make a statement on the matter.

Tánaiste and Minister for Foreign Affairs (Mr. Spring)

In reply to a question on 10 June 1993 I gave the House detailed information on the establishment of the ad hoc International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.

There has been a number of developments in relation to thead hoc Tribunal since that date. In June the UN Secretary-General invited member states to nominate candidates for the tribunal in accordance with its statute. Ireland subsequently nominated a candidate. On 20 August the Security Council established a list of 23 candidates from the nominations received taking due account of the adequate representation of the principal legal systems of the world. The Irish nominee was not among those selected. The General Assembly proceeded to elect 11 tribunal judges from this list in extended balloting between 15 and 17 September 1993. It is expected that issues related to the financing of the tribunal and its location will be further considered at the current session of the General Assembly.

When I addressed the World Conference on Human Rights in Vienna on 14 June 1993 I stated my belief that the agreement to establish thead hoc tribunal for the former Yugoslavia is a development of the greatest importance for the protection of human rights. I added that the time has come for the creation of an international criminal tribunal of wider scope to prosecute persons responsible for violations of humanitarian law wherever they occur.

I returned to this issue in my statement to the General Assembly on 1 October 1993 when I said that thead hoc approach which the international community has rightly found essential in the case of the former Yugoslavia pointed to the need for a permanent international criminal tribunal with an established jurisdiction and an identified body of applicable law. I urged the General Assembly to examine the valuable work which has been done over a number of years on this topic by the International Law Commission.

Ireland will continue to press in the relevent UN fora for the establishment of an international criminal tribunal with competence in the fields of war crimes and violations of human rights.