TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS Trudy Huskamp Peterson October 2007.

18
TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS Trudy Huskamp Peterson October 2007

Transcript of TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS Trudy Huskamp Peterson October 2007.

Page 1: TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS Trudy Huskamp Peterson October 2007.

TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS

Trudy Huskamp Peterson

October 2007

Page 2: TEMPORARY COURTS, PERMANENT RECORDS Trudy Huskamp Peterson October 2007.

Scope of Study

• International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY)

• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)

• Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL)

• Special Panels and Serious Crimes Unit, East Timor

• Hybrid courts, Kosovo

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Legal Basis of Courts and Court Records

1. ICTY and ICTR: Created by United Nations Security Council

  2. SCSL: Created by agreement between Sierra Leone and United Nations

 3. East Timor panels and prosecutor: Created by the United Nations administration in East Timor and subsequently transferred to the new national government

  4.Kosovo: International judges and prosecutors inserted by UN into existing court system

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Scope of Court Functions

• ICTY and ICTR: Courts, prosecutor, investigators, registrar, victims and witness support program, detention facility management, outreach to local communities, public information, liaison to defense counsel, administration

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Scope of Court Functions, Cont.

 SCSL: Same as ICTY and ICTR plus defense counsel, construction and management of court and detention facilities

 

East Timor: Judges but not courts, prosecutor, investigators, public information

 

Kosovo: Judges but not courts, prosecutors, investigators

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Geographic Scope

ICTY: Headquarters in The Hague, offices of prosecutors, investigators, victim and witness support, and outreach located in various cities in Croatia, Bosnia, Serbia, and Kosovo

 

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Geographic Scope, cont.

ICTR: Headquarters in Arusha, Tanzania; appeals to appellate bench in The Hague; prosecutor office in Kigali, Rwanda and formerly in The Hague

  SCSL: Freetown, Sierra Leone, The Hague

  East Timor: Dili, East Timor

Kosovo: Prishtina and five judicial districts

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Physical Types of Records

• Paper (official record):• Electronic tracking

systems:• Electronic document

management systems: • Websites:

• Audio and video of court sessions:

• Still photographs, audio and video evidence:

• Architectural records:• Objects as evidence:

• All• All except East Timor

panels• ICTY, ICTR, SCSL

• ICTY, ICTR, SCSL, prosecutor in East Timor

• ICTY, ICTR, SCSL

• All

• SCSL• All

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Some Records Issues

VolumeDuplicationQuantity of confidential

informationSecurity

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National and International Perspectives

Court recordsProsecutors’ records Investigators’ recordsDetention recordsFiles of judgesRecords of defense counselsInternational experiences: International Military

Tribunal – GermanyInternational experiences: International Military

Tribunal – Far East

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Potential Users

Victims, surrogates, heirsCivic activistsGovernment officialsLegal researchers; defense counselAcademic researchersMediaCourt planners

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What Records Users Say They Want

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Joinet Principles 1997

• Preserve archives “bearing witness to violations” of human rights

• Establish categories of access (victims, relatives, persons implicated, historical researchers)

• Use balancing test between access and privacy

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Administering Access Policy

• Clear policy statement, screening, periodic reviews

• Make public existence of records and restrictions

• Equal access; release to one member of public is release to all

• Passage of time obviates need for restriction

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Problem of Placement I

• Goals– Foster Research– Provide consistent reference service– Conserve resources

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Problem of Placement II

• Single location or many

• Competing claims

• Single location– New York– Geneva– The Hague

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Problem of Placement III

• Service to researchers

• Access through duplicate copies

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Responsibilities for an international judicial archives

• UN must embrace its responsibility for the records

• States need to support and fund

• NGOs and other concerned bodies should participate in the creation and maintenance of the archives