1. Subject-matter :
The Tribunal’s authority is to prosecute and try four clusters of offences:

Grave breaches of the 1949 Geneva Conventions.
Violations of the laws or customs of war.
Genocide.
Crimes against humanity.

2. Geographic and Temporal:
Any of the crimes as above listed, committed on the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991.

3. Personal :
Only over natural persons and not over organisations, political parties, administrative entities or other legal subjects.

Vis-à-vis national courts
The ICTY and national courts have concurrent jurisdiction over serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the former Yugoslavia. However, the ICTY can claim primacy over national courts, and may take over national investigations and proceedings at any stage if this proves to be in the interest of international justice.

The Chambers consist of 16 permanent judges and a maximum at any one time of 12 ad litem judges. A temporary increase in the number of ad litem judges to a maximum of 16 during the year 2008 was approved by the UN Security Council on 20 February 2008. The 16 permanent judges are elected by the UN General Assembly for a term of four years. They can be re-elected.

The ad litem judges are drawn from a pool of 27 judges. They are also elected by the UN General Assembly for a term of four years, but they are not eligible for re-election. An ad litem judge can serve at the ICTY following his/her appointment by the Secretary-General on the recommendation of the ICTY President in order to sit on one or more specific trials for a period of up to three years during the term for which they are elected. Ad litem Judges may also be appointed as reserve Judges to be present at each stage of a trial and to replace a Judge that is unable to continue sitting.

The judges are divided between three Trial Chambers and one Appeals Chamber. Each Trial Chamber consists of three permanent judges and a maximum, at any one time, of six ad litem judges. A Trial Chamber may be divided into mixed sections of three judges (one permanent and two ad litem, or two permanent and one ad litem). Each Trial Chamber can be comprised of up to three sections. The Appeals Chamber consists of seven permanent judges: five from the permanent judges of the ICTY, and two from the 11 permanent judges of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). These seven judges also constitute the Appeals Chamber of the ICTR. Each appeal is heard and decided by five judges.

The judges represent the main legal systems in the world and bring to the Tribunal a variety of legal expertise. The judges hear testimony and legal arguments, decide on the innocence or the guilt of the accused and pass sentence.
The permanent judges also have important regulatory functions: they draft and adopt the legal instruments regulating the functioning of the ICTY, such as the Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

President:
Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica)

Vice-President:
O-Gon Kwon (South Korea)

Presiding Judges:
Carmel A. Agius (Malta)
Alphonsus Martinus Maria Orie (Netherlands)
Iain Bonomy (United Kingdom)

Judges:
Fausto Pocar  (Italy)
Kevin Parker (Australia)
Mohamed Shahabuddeen (Guyana)
Mehmet Güney (Turkey)
Liu Daqun (China)
Andresia Vaz (Senegal)
Theodor Meron (United States of America)
Christoph Flügge (Germany)
Jean-Claude Antonetti (France)
Christine Van Den Wyngaert (Belgium)
Bakone Justice Moloto (South Africa)

Ad Litem Judges:
Janet M. Nosworthy (Jamaica)
Árpád Prandler (Hungary)
Stefan Trechsel (Switzerland)
Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua (Democratic Republic of Congo)
Ali Nawaz Chowhan (Pakistan)
Tsvetana Kamenova (Bulgaria)
Kimberly Prost (Canada)
Ole Bjørn Støle (Norway)
Frederik Harhoff (Denmark)
Flavia Lattanzi (Italy)
Pedro R. David (Argentina)
Michèle Picard (France)
Uldis Kinis (Latvia)
Elizabeth Gwaunza (Zimbabwe)

The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) operates independently of the Security Council, of any State or international organisation and of the other organs of the ICTY. Its members are experienced police officers, crime experts, analysts, lawyers and trial attorneys.
The OTP conducts investigations (by collecting evidence, identifying witnesses, exhuming mass graves), prepares indictments and presents prosecutions before the judges of the Tribunal.

Prosecutor: Serge Brammertz (Belgium), since 1 January 2008.

The Registry is responsible for the administration and judicial support services of the Tribunal, including the translation of documents and the interpretation of court proceedings. The Registry's judicial responsibilities cover the organisation of the hearings, the legal filings and archives, the operation of the legal aid programme for indigent defendants, the provision of assistance and protection to witnesses, and the management of the Detention Unit.
Together with the President, the Registrar carries out diplomatic functions. The Registrar is also in charge of all communications to and from the Tribunal.

Registrar: Hans Holthuis (Netherlands), since 1 January 2001.
Deputy Registrar: John Hocking (Australia), since 1 December 2004.

Investigations are initiated by the Prosecutor at his own discretion or on the basis of information received from individuals, governments, international organisations or non-governmental organisations.
Indictments must be confirmed by a judge prior to becoming effective.
The trial commences only once the accused is physically present before the Tribunal. At the initial appearance of the accused, the Trial Chamber asks the accused to enter a plea of guilty or not guilty.
The conduct of the trial draws from both the civil law and common law systems: elements of the adversarial and inquisitorial procedures are combined.
The Rules of Procedure and Evidence guarantee that ICTY proceedings adhere to internationally recognised principles of fair trial. As an important guarantee of a fair trial, the legal aid programme provides counsel for indigent defendants at the expense of the Tribunal. Other important elements include the presumption of innocence, the right to be tried without undue delay, the right to examine adverse witnesses and the right of appeal.
Procedural provisions for the protection of witnesses' identities and the actual assistance provided before, during and after the proceedings by the Victims and Witnesses Section within the Registry ensure that witnesses can testify freely and safely.

Since its inception, the Tribunal has become a fully operational legal institution rendering judgements and setting important precedents of international criminal and humanitarian law. Many legal issues now adjudicated by the Tribunal have never actually been adjudicated or have lain dormant since the Nuremberg and Tokyo trials.

As of 15 September 2008: 1126 staff members, 82 represented nationalities.

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