Excellencies,

Ladies and Gentlemen,

Dayton’s principal achievement was that it succeeded in halting the war and preserving peace. However, the ICTY experience of working with Bosnian institutions at various levels has revealed serious shortcomings. Karadzic and Mladic are still at large, and no government structure anywhere in Bosnia and Herzegovina is close to capturing either of them. The daunting shadow of unpunished and often denied war crimes continues to mar the relations between the main communities.

Now is the time to move ahead and enter a new phase in the history of Bosnia and Herzegovina. A functioning State must emerge. Building on Lord Ashdown’s legacy, new constitutional arrangements providing for more efficient governance need to be put in place.

Reconciliation must be fostered. There is no option but to carry out the work of justice until it is completed. The temptation always exists to bend to political convenience and erase the victims’ need for justice from the agenda. Simon Wiesenthal’s words should serve as a stern reminder: "without memory, mankind is condemned to repeat the same mistakes and the same atrocities. (…) Other murderers are among us. The hunt must go on. Criminals must never sleep quietly." Working for the future is also working on the past.

First, the ICTY must complete successfully its task. Out of 162 persons indicted by the ICTY, well over 120 were accused of crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina, from all sides of the conflict. Some of the main leaders have been transferred to The Hague, and the proceedings are on-going. Several individuals were sentenced for the most horrendous crime committed during the war, in Srebrenica. The ICTY Appeals Chamber confirmed in April 2004 that, indeed, a genocide took place in Srebrenica in these dark days of July 1995. Only four individuals charged with crimes committed in Bosnia and Herzegovina are still at large, which could be seen as a huge success already. It is not the case. Until the two individuals principally responsible, Karadzic and Mladic, stand trial in The Hague, justice will remain undone, the victims will not be satisfied and there will not be a promising path towards reconciliation.

The reasons why these two fugitives are still at large after ten years are not too mysterious. In the first years after Dayton, there was no political will to bring them to The Hague. Over the last few years, the political pressure of the international community has increased. As a result, Belgrade, Podgorica and Banja Luka have seemingly stepped up their efforts. I have no evidence however that, now, the political will is truly there. As long as there will be only nice words but no concrete results, doubts will remain.

Second, the process of domestic trials must be carried out. Special jurisdictions are now in place to try war crimes. The ICTY has helped to build this judicial infrastructure. These courts must be able to try mid- and lower-level perpetrators without any political interference. I have requested 8 cases indicted at the ICTY involving 13 accused to be transferred from The Hague to the State Court in Bosnia and Herzegovina. One case with one accused was already transferred. However, in addition to the cases coming from The Hague, the Court in Sarajevo and the other local courts will have to deal with many, many more cases. In the context of our so-called Rules of the Road program, we have reviewed hundreds of cases stemming from local courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina. There is no reason not to prosecute many more perpetrators. Compromising on justice will only corrode justice itself and lead to injustice.

Third, the capital earned over the past ten years must be fully invested. The ICTY has collected an impressive amount of evidence. These written documents, testimonies and videos show facts that cannot be disputed. They must be brought to public awareness so as to build the collective understanding of what happened ten years ago. Otherwise, as one of my predecessors, Justice Goldstone, said in a recent article, "public lies take hold and eventually harden into historical myth. They fuel ethnic and regional tensions hundreds of years later, frequently with tragic results."

One can think of many ways to channel the knowledge assembled at our Tribunal. What is of utmost importance, however, is that it flows into the education systems and that young people learn the truth.

I mentioned three priorities which, if consistently implemented, may in my view foster a sustainable peace and reconciliation: completing ICTY’s work, pursuing domestic trials and spreading the reality of war crimes. The first process has to be carried out in The Hague. The two others belong to the region. Ideally they should be carried out by the local authorities. Are they ready for that? Probably not. For this reason, the war crimes chamber established within the State Court will need to keep for a few years a significant international presence. On the other hand, the initiative to keep an accurate memory of war crimes has been left to the civil society, and the work of those NGOs that have had the stamina to engage into this project must be strongly supported. They are the few ones creating the healthy basis for the next generations not to repeat the same mistakes and the same atrocities.

The hunt must continue. Criminals must never sleep quietly.

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Courtroom proceedings can be followed on the Tribunal’s website.