Mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Pursuant to Rule 114(1) of the Rules of Procedure of the European Parliament, Annemie NEYTS-UYTTEBROECK (ALDE, BE), Sarah LUDFORD (ALDE, UK) and Jelko KACIN (ALDE, SI), on behalf of their political group, have drafted a proposal for a recommendation on the mandate of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

The proposal for a recommendation stresses that the Tribunal has already made a significant contribution to a process of reconciliation in the Western Balkans but that its work is still unfinished. Therefore, MEPs call on the Council to:

• urgently explore possibilities to extend the mandate of the Tribunal so that all the ongoing trials can be examined without undue haste and the remaining indicted war criminals can be brought to justice and the cases against them tried;
• devise a strategy on how to deal with remaining fugitives should the UN fail to extend the mandate of the Tribunal;
• clarify how the EU will judge the performance of the justice sector in the countries of the Western Balkans after the possible end of term of the Tribunal and what measures the EU can take to increase support for domestic war crime investigations and trials.