Sir Dennis Byron – Rwanda Tribunal Judge
Basseterre, Saint Kitts – Nevis
July 24, 2008 (CUOPM)
The tenure of Kittitian-born jurist, Sir Dennis Byron, as one the several permanent judges serving on the United Nations war crimes tribunal on Rwanda has been extended.
Sir Dennis, former Chief Justice of the Eastern Caribbean Appeals Court is the lone Caribbean luminary on the tribunal.
The United Nations Security Council has extended the tenure of the judges serving on the war crimes tribunal set up to deal with the 1994 genocide in Rwanda, so as to ensure that all remaining cases can be completed by the deadline set for the court’s work.
The terms of Charles Michael Dennis Byron (Saint Kitts and Nevis), Asoka de Silva (Sri Lanka), Sergei Aleckseevich Egorov (Russian Federation), Khalida Rachid Khan (Pakistan), Erik Møse (Norway); Arlete Ramaroson (Madagascar) and William Hussein Sekule (Tanzania) – permanent judges serving in the Trial Chambers – was extended 31 December 2009.
Under its Completion Strategy, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), which is based in the Tanzanian town of Arusha, is supposed to finish all of its trials, excluding appeals, by December 2008. All work is scheduled to be completed by 2010.
In a unanimously adopted resolution, the Council voiced its expectation that the extension of judges’ terms of office “will enhance the effectiveness of trial proceedings and contribute towards ensuring the implementation of the Completion Strategy.”
The terms of permanent judges Mehmet Güney (Turkey) and Andrésia Vaz (Senegal), who serve on the Appeals Chamber, were extended until 31 December 2010.
The Tribunal also has a pool of temporary, or ad litem, judges created to help expedite the court’s work, whose terms the Council extended today. The terms of Florence Rita Arrey (Cameroon), Solomy Balungi Bossa (Uganda), Taghrid Hikmet (Jordan), Vagn Joensen (Denmark), Gberdao Gustave Kam (Burkina Faso), Lee Gacuiga Muthoga (Kenya), Seon Ki Park (Republic of Korea) and Emile Francis Short (Ghana) – all of whom currently serve at the Tribunal – were extended until 31 December 2009.
In addition, the Council extended until 31 December 2009, the terms of office of several ad litem judges who have not yet been appointed to serve at the Tribunal.
They are Aydin Sefa Akay (Turkey), Karin Hökborg (Sweden), Flavia Lattanzi (Italy), Kenneth Machin (United Kingdom), Joseph Edward Chiondo Masanche (Tanzania), Tan Sri Dato’ Hj. Mohd. Azmi Dato’ Hj. Kamaruddin (Malaysia), Mparany Mamy Richard Rajohnson (Madagascar), Albertus Henricus Johannes Swart (Netherlands) and Aura E. Guerra de Villalaz (Panama).
The Council created the ICTR in November 1994 to prosecute people responsible for genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda that year. Some 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered, mostly by machete, in just 100 days.