UN: Security Council Extends Terms of ICTY Judges

Yesterday, the Security Council unanimously adopted Resolution 1837, which extends the terms of office of fourteen permanent and twenty-seven ad litem judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia. The terms the Tribunal's four permanent judges who sit in the Appeals Chamber were extended through 2010. The terms of the remaining permanent and ad litem judges, all of whom sit in (or may be assigned to) the Trial Chamber, were extended through 2009, or until the completion of the cases to which they are (or may be) assigned if sooner. (UN press release, with the text of the Resolution, here.) The Council's action, which responds to multiple requests by ICTY President Fausto Pocar (here and here), recognizes that the ICTY will not complete all its trials by the end of 2008, as had been envisioned by the Council's completion strategy (see Resolutions 1503 (2003) and 1534 (2004)). Pocar had sought an extension during the summer, but that attempt failed after the representative of the Russian Federation questioned the need to take action at that time, more than a year before the terms expired. The terms of the ICTR's judges were extended in July.