d. International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
The scale and severity of gross human rights abuses and ethnic cleansing in Rwanda during 1994, led to the adoption
by the Security Council, on 8 Novem- ber 1994, of resolution 955 (1994) creating the International Criminal
Tribunal for Rwanda, eighteen months after the International Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia had been
established by Security Council resolution 827 of 25 May 1993. The Security Council resolution decided “to
establish an international tri- bunal for the sole purpose of prosecuting persons responsible for genocide and
other serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the ter- ritory of Rwanda and Rwandan
citizens responsible for genocide and other such violations committed in the territory of neighboring States”.
The Statute gives the Tribunal the power to prosecute genocide, crimes against humanity, violations of common
Article 3 of the Geneva Conven- tions and Additional Protocol II. The Tribunal’s jurisdiction covers crimes
committed by Rwandans in the territory of Rwanda and in the territory of neighbouring States as well as non-Rwandan
citizens for crimes committed in Rwanda between 1 January and 31 December 1994. The Tribunal is based in Arusha,
Tanzania.
As at January 1999, the Tribunal had issued 28 indictments against 45 individuals. [Source: ICTR Fact Sheet January
1999]
For further information see ICTR at: http://www.un.org/ictr
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