VZCZCXYZ0000
RR RUEHWEB

DE RUCNDT #1118 3481705
ZNR UUUUU ZZH
R 141705Z DEC 09
FM USMISSION USUN NEW YORK
TO RUEHC/SECSTATE WASHDC 7800
INFO RUEHTC/AMEMBASSY THE HAGUE 9184

UNCLAS USUN NEW YORK 001118 
 
SIPDIS 
 
E.O. 12958: N/A 
TAGS: ICTY PREL UNSC
SUBJECT: AMBASSADOR DICARLO MEETS WITH THE ICTY'S PRESIDENT 
PATRICK ROBINSON 
 
¶1.  (U)  SUMMARY:  On Tuesday, December 1,  Ambassador 
DiCarlo met with Judge Patrick Robinson, the President of the 
International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia 
(ICTY) and the  ICTY's Chef de Cabinet, Gabrielle McIntyre. 
Robinson addressed several issues including retention of the 
ICTY's staff, apprehension of Ratko Mladic and Goran Hadzic, 
the declassification of the ICTY's documents, and an upcoming 
conference on the ICTY's legacy issues to be held in The 
Hague in February, 2010.  END SUMMARY. 
 
¶2.  (U)   Judge Robinson stressed the ICTY's problem with 
staff retentions and said that the ICTY is losing one staff 
person per day.  He said that extending the contracts of 
personnel as far into the future as possible will help and 
asked Ambassador DiCarlo to support his request to extend the 
terms of some of the ICTY's judges until 2012.  Ambassador 
DiCarlo responded that the United States has, in the past, 
supported such requests and would likely support the current 
one.  McIntyre explained that the ICTY has not experienced 
actual gaps in personnel due to a "pool" of candidates for 
the various positions.  She did say, however, that despite 
the ability the ICTY has to replace individuals quickly, the 
learning curve that new employees face takes a minimum of six 
months before they are fully contributing. 
 
¶3.  (U)  Robinson mentioned a conference that the ICTR will 
host in The Hague, February 23-24, 2010 on the Residual 
Mechanism (RM) and legacy issues and said that he thought it 
would be helpful for the Security Council members of the 
Working Group in New York to participate. 
 
¶4.  (SBU) With respect to the two remaining fugitives, Ratko 
Mladic and Goran Hadzic, Robinson said that it would be ideal 
if both were apprehended before the ICTY closes.   He said 
that he was optimistic, after he visited Serbia in June, that 
Mladic would be found as said he had heard a rumor that 
Mladic has some physical ailments that might force him to 
surface.  Robinson, concerned that the European Union (EU) 
might be softening its position that Serbia has to produce 
the two fugitives before it is allowed into the EU, said this 
would be unfortunate.  He also added that he thought the 
Netherlands might even be softening a bit on this issue which 
was surprising to him.  Ambassador DiCarlo said she had hoped 
the Serbian government would be a little more active on the 
issue. 
 
¶5.  (U)  Judge Robinson said that the work the ICTY has 
started to do to declassify the Tribunal's documents is 
extremely labor intensive and questioned its usefulness and 
necessity.  Saying that he was asked to do so by the Security 
Council, he wondered whether the Security Council might 
adjust its tasking so that the work he carries out is more 
practical and useful.  He was clear to point out that he was 
referring to documents other than those that fall under Rule 
70, but added that 40 to 50 percent of the documentation 
pertains to protected witnesses and that so far the ICTY has 
had some 5000 witnesses. 
 
RICE