AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH ICTR PRESIDENT

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000919 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KAWC PARM PREF RW SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH ICTR PRESIDENT DENNIS BYRON AND DISCUSSES PENSIONS FOR AD LITEM JUDGES ¶1. (U) This is an action request, see paragraph three below. ¶2. (U) Judge Dennis Byron, President of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) and his special assistant Helge Zietler met with Ambassador DiCarlo on October 6 to provide their views on the issue of whether the ICTR's ad litem judges should be eligible for a UN pension. Byron said that there are eight ad litem judges serving at the ICTR who have more than three years of service and are currently ineligible for a pension. He said that some of these judges will eventually work longer than some of the ICTR's permanent judges and should be eligible for a pension and asked for U.S. support. Byron also conveyed that the situation will have an adverse impact on the ICTR's completion strategy as some of the ad litem judges need to return home to work in order to preserve retirement benefits there. As a fix, he noted that if they were eligible for a UN pension that covers the years they are serving at the ICTR, they would be more likely to continue to serve until the ICTR finishes its work. Ambassador DiCarlo said that she would convey the concern to the Department but emphasized that the terms under which the ad litems were hired did not include the benefit of a UN pension and said it would be difficult to make adjustments at this point. ¶3. (U) USUN requests the Department's position on the ICTR's request prior to December 4 when the ICTR and ICTY Presidents are scheduled to return to New York to brief the Security Council. RICE