VZCZCXYZ0014
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #0368 0981731
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 081731Z APR 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 6291
INFO RUEHLB/AMEMBASSY BEIRUT 1612
RUEHDM/AMEMBASSY DAMASCUS 0440
RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 9108

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 000368 
 
SENSITIVE 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: PREL PTER AORC AMGT UNSC LE
SUBJECT: SPECIAL TRIBUNAL FOR LEBANON REGISTRAR RESIGNS 
 
REF: IRWIN/MORRISON/HACKETT E-MAILS APRIL 2 2009 
 
1.(SBU) SUMMARY: At the April 3 meeting of the Special 
Tribunal for Lebanon (STL) Management Committee: (1) the 
Chair announced the resignation of the Tribunal's Registrar, 
Robin Vincent. (2) The Management Committee agreed that the 
Vice President of the Tribunal may assume full-time status 
beginning June 1, 2009. (3) Management Committee Members 
raised several questions concerning the Registrar's proposals 
to amend staff rules. END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2. (SBU) The Chair announced that the Registrar of the 
Tribunal Robin Vincent had submitted a formal letter of 
resignation. She circulated the letter to Management 
Committee members. According to the letter, Vincent would 
like to end his assignment effective May 31. The Chair said 
that she planned to ask the Registrar to stay on two to four 
weeks beyond the May 31 date to ensure an orderly transition 
with the recently-selected Deputy Registrar who is not slated 
to commence his assignment until June 1. It was observed 
that, given the political sensitivity of STL operations, 
public disclosure of the Registrar's departure should be 
handled carefully so as not to raise undue speculation. The 
UN's Office of Legal Affairs representative indicated that 
the Secretariat would commence the search for candidates for 
the Registrar's position and that the process will follow 
that of the initial appointment, i.e. letters will be sent to 
all member states soliciting nominations with submission of 
names due in a month's time. The Canadian representative, 
suggested that the hiring processes for the STL be 
coordinated with the hiring process for the Special Court for 
Sierra Leone Registrar. 
 
¶3.  (SBU) At its April 3 meeting, the Management Committee 
agreed that the Vice President of the Tribunal may assume 
full-time status on June 1, 2009, earlier than originally 
anticipated. The U.S. joined consensus per ref e-mails.  It 
was noted that the Vice President's appointment would enhance 
the STL's legitimacy and outweigh the extra-budgetary cost 
implications of USD 185,000, which could be adequately 
covered from the supplementary financial resources now at the 
Tribunal's disposal for year one operations. 
 
 
¶4.  (SBU) The Management Committee will approve through a 
silence procedure the Registrar's proposed amendment to the 
staff regulation to take into account the newly established 
UN Appeals Tribunal. USUN raised questions about the proposed 
changes to the Staff Rules per reftel, and the UK Chair also 
raised several questions. The Chair will forward these 
questions to the Registrar and will seek additional 
information on the justification for the changes.   The 
Management Committee also agreed that it was appropriate for 
the Registrar to fill the Deputy Registrar position at the D2 
level, given the candidate's experience and that the 
Management Committee had agreed to flexi-grade the position. 
 
Rice