Vol. 507 No. 2
54 Mr. Yates asked the Minister for Foreign Affairs the diplomatic or other steps the Irish Government has taken to ensure that the recent evidence of mass murder and slaughter by the Serbian authorities in Kosovo as well as other human rights breaches will be vigorously prosecuted by the War Criminals Tribunal; the other recourse through international law available to address the extent of the crimes committed; and if he will make a statement on the matter. [16407/99]
The Government is appalled at the atrocities committed in Kosovo, of which the full extent is being increasingly shown every day as further evi dence emerges. The planners and perpetrators of such crimes must be made to answer for them. The Government, together with our EU partners, have made clear that the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia will have our full support in carrying out their investigations and prosecuting those responsible. The tribunal is now actively continuing its work of investigation and compilation of evidence, both on the ground in Kosovo and by gathering evidence from refugees. Irish personnel have assisted the tribunal in this work and will continue to do so.
While the tribunal is, of course, the primary mechanism through which individual responsibility for international crimes committed in Kosovo should be addressed, international law goes further and permits the exercise of universal jurisdiction by states for the most heinous of international crimes. Accordingly, if an alleged perpetrator of international crimes was present in this jurisdiction, he or she could be prosecuted and tried within the Irish justice system in appropriate circumstances, for example under the Genocide Act, 1973.
