The Prosecutor Investigates Kosovo
Tribunal Update 67: Last Week in The Hague (March 9-14, 1998)
The Prosecutor Investigates Kosovo
Tribunal Update 67: Last Week in The Hague (March 9-14, 1998)
She decided to make such a public announcement, as she stressed, assessing that "recent events in Kosovo are an exceptional circumstance."
In order to avoid confusion regarding the Tribunal's mandate and jurisdiction, the Prosecutor reminded on the same occasion, "that the Statute of the Tribunal, which was adopted by the United Nations Security Council in May 1993, empowers the Tribunal to prosecute persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. This jurisdiction is ongoing and covers the recent violence in Kosovo."
Such a reminder of this "ongoing jurisdiction", as we have learnt, was necessary, among other reasons, because some states - such as, say, France, which is a permanent member of the Security Council, - were "convinced" that the Tribunal's temporal jurisdiction ended with the signing of the Dayton Accords.
So that the new investigation would not burden the modest funds of the OTP, the American government announced a $1million contribution to help the Tribunal do its work and sent independent forensic experts and investigators to Kosovo.
