International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals

Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals
Mécanisme pour les Tribunaux pénaux internationaux (French)
Seal of the Mechanism
Established	22 December 2010
Location	The Hague, Netherlands Arusha, Tanzania
Composition method	Security Council nomination with General Assembly election
Authorized by	UNSC Resolution 1966
Judge term length	4 years
No. of positions	25
Website	http://www.unmict.org/
President
Currently	Theodor Meron
Since	1 March 2012
Lead position ends	29 February 2020

The Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT), officially the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, is an international court established by the United Nations Security Council in 2010 to perform the remaining functions of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) following the completion of those tribunals' respective mandates.

In the early 1990s, the United Nations Security Council established two criminal courts whose purpose was to investigate and prosecute individuals responsible for war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide. The first of these courts was the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), which was established in 1993 to investigate crimes committed during the Yugoslav Wars. The second court, the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), was established the following year to address crimes committed during the Rwandan genocide. Both the ICTY and the ICTR were meant to be temporary institutions that would conclude after their mandate to investigate crimes and prosecute individuals was completed. Although both tribunals have completed substantially all of their mandates, there are residual functions that will not be accomplished for many more years. For example, future trials may be held once remaining ICTR fugitives are captured, convicted persons may still petition for early release, protective orders for witnesses may need to be modified, and the archives that contain confidential documents need to be safeguarded. In order to oversee the residual functions of the ICTY and ICTR in an efficient manner, the Security Council passed Resolution 1966 on 22 December 2010, which created the Mechanism.