SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON REGISTRAR RESIGNS

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000368

SENSITIVE
SIPDIS

E.O. 12958: N/A
TAGS: PREL PTER AORC AMGT UNSC LE
SUBJECT: SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON REGISTRAR RESIGNS

REF: IRWIN/MORRISON/HACKETT E-MAILS APRIL 2 2009

1.(SBU) SUMMARY: At the April 3 meeting of the Special
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Management Committee: (1) the
Chair announced the resignation of the Tribunal's Registrar,
Robin Vincent. (2) The Management Committee agreed that the
Vice President of the Tribunal may assume full-time status
beginning June 1, 2009. (3) Management Committee Members
raised several questions concerning the Registrar's proposals
to amend staff rules. END SUMMARY.


2. (SBU) The Chair announced that the Registrar of the
Tribunal Robin Vincent had submitted a formal letter of
resignation. She circulated the letter to Management
Committee members. According to the letter, Vincent would
like to end his assignment effective May 31. The Chair said
that she planned to ask the Registrar to stay on two to four
weeks beyond the May 31 date to ensure an orderly transition
with the recently-selected Deputy Registrar who is not slated
to commence his assignment until June 1. It was observed
that, given the political sensitivity of STL operations,
public disclosure of the Registrar's departure should be
handled carefully so as not to raise undue speculation. The
UN's Office of Legal Affairs representative indicated that
the Secretariat would commence the search for candidates for
the Registrar's position and that the process will follow
that of the initial appointment, i.e. letters will be sent to
all member states soliciting nominations with submission of
names due in a month's time. The Canadian representative,
suggested that the hiring processes for the STL be
coordinated with the hiring process for the Special Court for
Sierra Leone Registrar.


3. (SBU) At its April 3 meeting, the Management Committee
agreed that the Vice President of the Tribunal may assume
full-time status on June 1, 2009, earlier than originally
anticipated. The U.S. joined consensus per ref e-mails. It
was noted that the Vice President's appointment would enhance
the STL's legitimacy and outweigh the extra-budgetary cost
implications of USD 185,000, which could be adequately
covered from the supplementary financial resources now at the
Tribunal's disposal for year one operations.



4. (SBU) The Management Committee will approve through a
silence procedure the Registrar's proposed amendment to the
staff regulation to take into account the newly established
UN Appeals Tribunal. USUN raised questions about the proposed
changes to the Staff Rules per reftel, and the UK Chair also
raised several questions. The Chair will forward these
questions to the Registrar and will seek additional
information on the justification for the changes. The
Management Committee also agreed that it was appropriate for
the Registrar to fill the Deputy Registrar position at the D2
level, given the candidate's experience and that the
Management Committee had agreed to flexi-grade the position.

Rice