AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000581 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: ICTY PREL UNSC SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT PATRICK ROBINSON ¶1. (SBU) Ambassador DiCarlo met with Judge Patrick Robinson, the President of the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia (ICTY) on June 3 prior to the ICTY's biannual briefing to the UN Security Council. The ICTY's new Registrar, John Hocking and its Chef de Cabinet, Gabrielle McIntyre also attended. Robinson, concerned that his staff's morale is plummeting which is leading to staff retention problems, asked Ambassador DiCarlo to support his request to extend the terms of some of the ICTY's judges until 2011. ¶2. (SBU) Ambassador DiCarlo responded that the United States has, in the past, supported such requests and would likely support the current one. Robinson acknowledged that although Russia has dug its heels in and has said that it will not support the extension of judges' terms beyond 2010, he nonetheless is publicly lobbying for extensions until ¶2011. Referring to UN General Assembly Resolution A/RES/63/256 as a basis for the judges' contracts to be extended to remove uncertainty in regard to their future employment, Robinson said that such a basis should leave little doubt that the Security Council can and should approve the request. To demonstrate the problems the ICTY is having retaining its staff, Robinson said that he is actively looking for three judges to replace judges Bonomy (UK), Shahabuddeen (Guyana),and Van den Wyngaert (Belgium) who are all leaving the ICTY this summer. RICE