Daily Star - Registrar for Hariri tribunal 'keen' to set up shop in The Hague within weeks. Robin Vincent will oversee construction of court premises, May 30, 2008
By Michael Bluhm
By Michael Bluhm
Registrar Robin Vincent of the Special Tribunal for Lebanon will move into his office at the tribunal's seat in The Hague within the next six weeks, Vincent told The Daily Star on Thursday. "My aim is about four weeks ... but it might slip a week or two," Vincent said, adding that he would make the move with a staff of four or five core personnel. "I'm obviously quite keen to go."
Senior UN officials have repeatedly said Vincent's arrival in The Netherlands would represent a significant milestone in the formation of the tribunal, which should try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and in other political killings or attempted killings from October 2004 to January this year.
Vincent, who previously served as registrar in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on March 10 as registrar, a position which functions akin to the CEO but will not have any judicial authority.
In the next week Vincent plans to sign the lease for the former Dutch intelligence services building which will serve as the tribunal's headquarters, Vincent said. Once Vincent arrives in The Hague, renovation work can begin on the premises, including the construction of a courtroom and detention cells to hold the accused on days when trials are ongoing.
Dutch Foreign Ministry officials have said the refurbishing should last about a year, a logistical delay ensuring that trials cannot begin before mid-2009; Vincent said he was eager to commence the reconstruction.
"That's one of the reasons I want to get to The Hague as soon as possible," added Vincent, who will chair the project team overseeing the renovation. "It's all really linked in to the date I get to The Hague."
Vincent is also putting the final touches on the tribunal's budget for its first year of operations, and he will present that budget to the tribunal's management committee before he moves to The Hague, Vincent said. The management committee, which includes the representatives of the UN, Lebanon, the host country and major donors such as the US, UK, France and Germany, functions as a supervisory board for non-judicial tribunal matters and meets at least once per week.
The budget for the tribunal's initial year, including the renovation, should wind up in a range around $45 million, Vincent said.
The registrar is also working with a task force to select core staff. Dutch officials had said they expected Vincent to hire some 100 employees by the end of the year, but Vincent said he did not have a set figure in mind.
"My purpose would be to avoid a standing army, as it were, of administrative personnel," Vincent said.
In Lebanon, meanwhile, the formation of a new government should not have any effect on the ongoing establishment of the tribunal, said Shafik Masri, professor of international law.
Parliament, paralyzed by the 18-month political deadlock, never met to address the bilateral agreement between the UN and Lebanon to form the tribunal, so the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1757 last May 30 to create the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. In the interim, the progress in setting up the tribunal has made it impossible for Lebanese politicians to stop the court, Masri said.
"This is not a disputable issue anymore," Masri said. "There will be no sense in discussing it anymore."
"It seems at least part of March 8 - [Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri and [Reform and Change Bloc head MP Michel] Aoun - both recognized that this court will go on," Masri added. "They did not object clearly."
Opposition leader Hizbullah has not explicitly opposed the tribunal, but some Hizbullah members have expressed worries the tribunal could be manipulated for political ends by Western powers against Hizbullah and/or Syria, whose government many have blamed for Hariri's assassination. Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied any involvement in the political violence here and has said Syria will not allow its citizens to appear before the tribunal.
"If there is any Syrian intervention [against the tribunal], it's not with the Lebanese government or through the Lebanese government," Masri said.
Masri added that he anticipated the UN commission investigating the assassination would present substantial advances in its work in its report due later this month. The commission's mandate expires on June 30, but the commission chief, Canadian Judge Daniel Bellemare, has requested an extension, a mostly bureaucratic formality sure to be approved.
Senior UN officials have repeatedly said Vincent's arrival in The Netherlands would represent a significant milestone in the formation of the tribunal, which should try suspects in the February 2005 assassination of former Prime Minister Rafik Hariri and in other political killings or attempted killings from October 2004 to January this year.
Vincent, who previously served as registrar in the Special Court for Sierra Leone, was appointed by UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon on March 10 as registrar, a position which functions akin to the CEO but will not have any judicial authority.
In the next week Vincent plans to sign the lease for the former Dutch intelligence services building which will serve as the tribunal's headquarters, Vincent said. Once Vincent arrives in The Hague, renovation work can begin on the premises, including the construction of a courtroom and detention cells to hold the accused on days when trials are ongoing.
Dutch Foreign Ministry officials have said the refurbishing should last about a year, a logistical delay ensuring that trials cannot begin before mid-2009; Vincent said he was eager to commence the reconstruction.
"That's one of the reasons I want to get to The Hague as soon as possible," added Vincent, who will chair the project team overseeing the renovation. "It's all really linked in to the date I get to The Hague."
Vincent is also putting the final touches on the tribunal's budget for its first year of operations, and he will present that budget to the tribunal's management committee before he moves to The Hague, Vincent said. The management committee, which includes the representatives of the UN, Lebanon, the host country and major donors such as the US, UK, France and Germany, functions as a supervisory board for non-judicial tribunal matters and meets at least once per week.
The budget for the tribunal's initial year, including the renovation, should wind up in a range around $45 million, Vincent said.
The registrar is also working with a task force to select core staff. Dutch officials had said they expected Vincent to hire some 100 employees by the end of the year, but Vincent said he did not have a set figure in mind.
"My purpose would be to avoid a standing army, as it were, of administrative personnel," Vincent said.
In Lebanon, meanwhile, the formation of a new government should not have any effect on the ongoing establishment of the tribunal, said Shafik Masri, professor of international law.
Parliament, paralyzed by the 18-month political deadlock, never met to address the bilateral agreement between the UN and Lebanon to form the tribunal, so the UN Security Council passed Resolution 1757 last May 30 to create the Special Tribunal for Lebanon. In the interim, the progress in setting up the tribunal has made it impossible for Lebanese politicians to stop the court, Masri said.
"This is not a disputable issue anymore," Masri said. "There will be no sense in discussing it anymore."
"It seems at least part of March 8 - [Parliament Speaker Nabih] Berri and [Reform and Change Bloc head MP Michel] Aoun - both recognized that this court will go on," Masri added. "They did not object clearly."
Opposition leader Hizbullah has not explicitly opposed the tribunal, but some Hizbullah members have expressed worries the tribunal could be manipulated for political ends by Western powers against Hizbullah and/or Syria, whose government many have blamed for Hariri's assassination. Syrian President Bashar Assad has denied any involvement in the political violence here and has said Syria will not allow its citizens to appear before the tribunal.
"If there is any Syrian intervention [against the tribunal], it's not with the Lebanese government or through the Lebanese government," Masri said.
Masri added that he anticipated the UN commission investigating the assassination would present substantial advances in its work in its report due later this month. The commission's mandate expires on June 30, but the commission chief, Canadian Judge Daniel Bellemare, has requested an extension, a mostly bureaucratic formality sure to be approved.
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