Reply to recommendation 1218 (19993) on establishing an international court to try serious violations of international humanitarian law

14 September 1994

Doc. 7149

COMMUNICATION FROM THE COMMITTEE OF MINISTERS

Reply to Recommendation 1218 (1993)

on establishing an international court

to try serious violations of international humanitarian law

(adopted by the Committee of Ministers on 8 September 1994

at the 516th meeting of the Ministers' Deputies)

The Committee of Ministers wishes to assure the Parliamentary Assembly that it shares the interest shown in its Recommendation 1218 (1993) in an international court to try serious violations of international humanitarian law. It wishes to inform the Assembly that it instructed the European Committee on Crime Problems (CDPC) and the Committee of Legal Advisers on Public International Law (CAHDI) to express opinions on the recommendation. Having received the texts of the two opinions requested, the Committee of Ministers is now in a position to reply as follows:

a. With regard to paragraphs 6.i and 6.ii of the recommendation on financial and other contributions, it wishes to recall that Resolution 827 (1993) of the United Nations Security Council establishing an 'International Tribunal for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of former Yugoslavia since 1991' was adopted under Chapter VII of the United Nations Charter and is therefore a matter for all States. While it is true that the United Nations Secretary-General has established a Trust Fund to receive voluntary contributions, the Committee of Ministers is of the opinion that the Tribunal should be financed from the United Nations budget rather than from voluntary contributions, which might provide support to those who might wish to question the independence and impartiality of the Tribunal. Nevertheless, specific projects could be financed with voluntary contributions.

b. With regard to paragraph 6.iii, on the signing and ratification of the European Convention on the Non-Applicability of Statutory Limitation to Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes (ETS 82), the Committee of Ministers points out that most national legislations already provide for the non-applicability of statutory limitation.

c. With regard to paragraph iv, which recommends that a proposal be submitted to the United Nations Security Council, to the effect that regional chambers for a future permanent court, starting with a European chamber, be set up, the Committee of Ministers considers that the initiative in question is somewhat premature since it is difficult to properly assess the advisability of creating such chambers before the Tribunal is established. It notes, moreover, that at present it is difficult to foresee whether the Security Council would have to play any constitutive role in the establishment of the Tribunal and that in its current work the International Law Commission (ILC) is not contemplating setting up a European Chamber. Furthermore, it underlines that a Tribunal of this kind would have a worldwide vocation and that consequently the establishment of regional chambers might lead to divergent sets of case-law, the effect of whose coexistence might run counter to the principle of the universality of human rights, recently reaffirmed by the United Nations World Conference on Human Rights held in Vienna in June 1993.