Identifier
Created
Classification
Origin
09USUNNEWYORK1136
2009-12-19 00:05:00
UNCLASSIFIED
USUN New York
Cable title:  

AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT

Tags:  ICTY PREL UNSC 
pdf how-to read a cable
VZCZCXYZ1575
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #1136 3530005
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 190005Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7862
INFO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 9185
UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001136 

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ICTY PREL UNSC
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT
PATRICK ROBINSON

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001136

SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: ICTY PREL UNSC
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT
PATRICK ROBINSON


1. (U) SUMMARY: On Tuesday, December 1, Ambassador
DiCarlo met with Judge Patrick Robinson, the President of the
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) and the ICTY's Chef de Cabinet, Gabrielle McIntyre.
Robinson addressed several issues including retention of the
ICTY's staff, apprehension of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic,
the declassification of the ICTY's documents, and an upcoming
conference on the ICTY's legacy issues to be held in The
Hague in February, 2010. END SUMMARY.


2. (U) Judge Robinson stressed the ICTY's problem with
staff retentions and said that the ICTY is losing one staff
person per day. He said that extending the contracts of
personnel as far into the future as possible will help and
asked Ambassador DiCarlo to support his request to extend the
terms of some of the ICTY's judges until 2012. Ambassador
DiCarlo responded that the United States has, in the past,
supported such requests and would likely support the current
one. McIntyre explained that the ICTY has not experienced
actual gaps in personnel due to a "pool" of candidates for
the various positions. She did say, however, that despite
the ability the ICTY has to replace individuals quickly, the
learning curve that new employees face takes a minimum of six
months before they are fully contributing.


3. (U) Robinson mentioned a conference that the ICTR will
host in The Hague, February 23-24, 2010 on the Residual
Mechanism (RM) and legacy issues and said that he thought it
would be helpful for the Security Council members of the
Working Group in New York to participate.


4. (SBU) With respect to the two remaining fugitives, Ratko
Mladic and Goran Hadzic, Robinson said that it would be ideal
if both were apprehended before the ICTY closes. He said
that he was optimistic, after he visited Serbia in June, that
Mladic would be found as said he had heard a rumor that
Mladic has some physical ailments that might force him to
surface. Robinson, concerned that the European Union (EU)
might be softening its position that Serbia has to produce
the two fugitives before it is allowed into the EU, said this
would be unfortunate. He also added that he thought the
Netherlands might even be softening a bit on this issue which
was surprising to him. Ambassador DiCarlo said she had hoped
the Serbian government would be a little more active on the
issue.


5. (U) Judge Robinson said that the work the ICTY has
started to do to declassify the Tribunal's documents is
extremely labor intensive and questioned its usefulness and
necessity. Saying that he was asked to do so by the Security
Council, he wondered whether the Security Council might
adjust its tasking so that the work he carries out is more
practical and useful. He was clear to point out that he was
referring to documents other than those that fall under Rule
70, but added that 40 to 50 percent of the documentation
pertains to protected witnesses and that so far the ICTY has
had some 5000 witnesses.

RICE