ICTR Releases Easy-to-Use CD-ROM
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In 2001, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) created its first complete CD-ROM - the “ICTR Basic Documents and Case Law 1995-2000”. The Legal Library and Reference Section of the Tribunal produced the CD-ROM to heighten understanding and appreciation of the distinguished nature of its work. Dedicated to the memory of the first ICTR President, Judge Laïty Kama, the compilation is the first to be published by an international criminal jurisdiction and therefore stands as the Tribunal’s major donation to the work of the International Criminal Court. It is a tribute to United Nations work towards the establishment of an International Criminal Justice System.
The CD-ROM is well organized and easy to navigate and follow. Users can run the included search engine using their web browser. This makes it easy to quickly access, in English and French, information and other data on the ICTR from all over the web by simply browsing or using key words. Users have access to over 1,800 documents, including ICTR decisions and basic texts, and United Nations documents on the Tribunal. Other documents include the ICTR Library’s Quarterly Bibliography and press releases. A handbook for journalists includes a valuable listing of contact addresses, past and present ICTR members, guidelines and facilities for the media, as well as statements from Secretary-General Kofi Annan about the role of the ICTR. These records are available as either PDF files or Microsoft Word documents. An index to ICTR decisions is also readily available.
The disc will prove an invaluable tool for lawyers, researchers, specialists and institutions interested in international criminal law, and those looking to learn more about the ICTR and its groundbreaking jurisprudence with regard to genocide.
Over a 100-day period in 1994, tribal and ethnic tensions in Rwanda exploded when Hutu extremists killed over 800,000 Tutsis and moderate Hutus. The UN Security Council created the ICTR in November of that year in response to these serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in Rwanda and its surrounding States to aid in the process of national reconciliation and maintain peace in that region.
The ICTR expects to prosecute all those responsible for this genocide and other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of Rwanda in 1994. Thus far, over 70 suspects have been indicted for their crimes, and more than 50 have been arrested and transferred to the Tribunal’s own detention centre. Of those, nine trials have been completed, resulting in eight convictions and one acquittal. Convictions of former leaders, such as Jean Kambanda, the Prime Minister of Rwanda during the genocide, have paved the way for prosecutions to be conducted against former heads of State, such as Augusto Pinochet of Chile and Slobodan Milosevic of Serbia. Based in Arusha, Tanzania, the Tribunal will continue to make substantial contributions to replacing a culture of impunity with a culture of responsibility.
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