The 18th June 2013, Trial Chamber V(A) of the International Criminal Court (ICC) conditionally granted, by majority, the request of William Samoei Ruto to be excused from being physically present continuously throughout the trial, scheduled to start on 10 September 2013. The Chamber, however, requires him to be present for the entirely of the following sessions: opening and closing statements of all parties and participants and when victims present their views and concerns in person during the trial. He is also required to be present during the delivery of judgment in the case and, if applicable, sentencing and reparations and any other attendance that may be ordered by the Chamber.

The Trial Chamber retains judicial control over the accused during the entirety of the proceedings and violations of any of these conditions may result in the revocation of the excusal and/or the issuance of an arrest warrant as appropriate.

The Chamber recalled that the Rome Statute does not afford any immunity based on official capacity. The Chamber stressed that permission granted Mr Ruto to not be continuously present was strictly for purposes of accommodating the demanding functions of his office as Deputy Head of State of Kenya and not merely to gratify the dignity of his own occupation of that office.

Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia appended a dissenting opinion.

The Chamber stressed that Mr Ruto in his personal capacity as the Deputy President of Kenya has to take effective actions in good faith to ensure that witnesses and victims are not intimidated including by calling on his supporters to refrain from creating any intimidating or harassing atmosphere for these persons involved with the ICC.

In granting such an exception to the duty to be continuously physically present at the trial, the Trial Chamber did not alter the obligation set on the accused by the previous summons to appear issued on 8 March 2011 not to contact directly or indirectly any person who is or is believed to be a victim or a witness of the alleged crimes and to refrain from corruptly influencing or interfering with a witness’s testimony.

The charges in the case The Prosecutor v. William Samoei Ruto and Joshua Arap Sang were confirmed on 23 January 2012. Mr Ruto and Mr Sang are prosecuted for charges of crimes against humanity consisting in murder, deportation or forcible transfer of populations and persecution, allegedly committed during the post-election violence in Kenya, in 2007 and 2008.

The evolving nature and tactics of conflict are creating unprecedented threats for children, United Nations officials told the Security Council today, stressing that despite progress in protecting youngsters during war, dangerous new trends are making them even more vulnerable.

“As new conflicts emerged or deepened in the course of the past 18 months, children continued to pay a heavy toll, perhaps the heaviest,” the Secretary-General’s Special Representative for Children in Armed Conflict, Leila Zerrougui said in her presentation to the Council of the Secretary-General’s 12th annual report on the subject.

“The absence of clear frontlines and identifiable opponents and the increasing use of terror tactics have made children more vulnerable.”

Ms. Zerrougui added that, as in previous years, the majority of parties recruiting children are non-State actors, and stressed the importance of finding innovative ways to address this issue.

The report reviews situations in 21 countries, as well as the regional conflict involving the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) whose activities impact children in the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), Central African Republic (CAR) and South Sudan.

The report also “names and shames” parties that engage in the recruitment and use of children, sexual violence against children, the killing and maiming of children in contravention of international law, recurrent attacks on schools and/or hospitals or recurrent attacks or threats of attack against protected personnel.

Mali was included for the first time in the report, as children were recruited by all armed groups active in the country’s North, where fighting broke out in January 2012 between Government forces and Tuareg rebels, and which was later occupied by radical Islamists. The country is now in a transition and stabilization phase.

Ms. Zerrougui said that her Office had received reports that children were also being recruited by pro-Government militias to perform various tasks, including participating in combat. “It is crucial to ensure that no children are integrated in the regular armed forces or forgotten in the reintegration process and that measure to prevent the recruitment of children be put in place,” she said. “I call upon the Malian authorities to treat these children in line with international standards.”

The CAR and Syria were also highlighted in the report as countries where conflict is having a disproportionate amount of impact.

The Special Representative underlined new areas of concern that need to be urgently addressed, including “the military use of schools, detention of children for alleged association with armed groups and the impact of drones on children.”

In spite of new challenges, progress has continued, Ms. Zerrougui said, pointing that all armed forces listed in the report for recruitment and use of children have entered into an action plan process with the UN to end violations against children. She added that her Office will be launching a campaign to galvanize efforts to end children’s association with States armed forces in armed conflict by 2016.

Also addressing the Security Council, the Deputy Executive Director of the UN Children’s Fund (UNICEF), Yoka Brandt emphasized the physical and psychological effect of the use of explosive weapons in populated areas on children, adding that these attacks also destroy vital infrastructure for their development.

“They deprive children from accessing essential basic services, like schools and hospitals. And in the absence of immediate medical care, injuries can turn into life-long disabilities,” she said, adding that the use of schools in military operations is of particular concern.

For his part, the Under-Secretary-General for Peacekeeping Operations, Hervé Ladsous, said it is critically important for peacekeeping operations to deploy a dedicated and specialized capacity of Child Protection Adviser (CPA).

“The report…is a stark reminder that the situation of children in conflicts remains dire and that our sustained engagement – at both the political and operational levels – is vital,” he said, stressing that child protection will continue to be actively addressed across mission mandates, including in political strategies and operational plans.

In Mali, for example, a CPA will be deployed for the first phase of the UN Multidimensional Integrated Stabilization Mission in Mali (MINUSMA) to help the mission identify key child protection issues as well as the approaches and resources needed to address them.

Mr. Ladsous also noted that peacekeeping missions contribute both to the negotiation and implementation of action plans to end recruitment of children in armed forces. In addition, peacekeepers are receiving training on child protection and field operations to be able to respond appropriately to any child protection concerns they encounter in the field.

In a presidential statement adopted as an outcome to the meeting, the Security Council echoed many of these issues. While welcoming progress made in preventing and responding to violations and abuses committed against children, the 15-nation body said it remains “strongly concerned” about the continued high number of perpetrators who persist in committing such abuses in conflict situation “in open disregard of [the Council’s] resolutions on the matter”.

In that light, the Council stressed its commitment to effectively deal with persistent perpetrators and welcomes the ongoing consideration by its Working Group on Children and Armed Conflict of options “for increasing pressure on persistent perpetrators of violations and abuses committed against children in situations of armed conflict.”

Ahead of the launch of the Hague branch of the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) on 1 July 2013, the Tribunal hosted a number of workshops in Belgrade and Sarajevo to explain the new organisation’s mandate to over 70 legal professionals and NGO partners.

In line with the Tribunal’s longstanding commitment to strengthening ties with the judicial community and civil society in the in former Yugoslavia, the workshops aimed to facilitate continued cooperation between legal practitioners, NGOs, the ICTY, and the Mechanism.

Commenting on the importance of the workshops, the Registrar of the ICTY and MICT John Hocking, said: “The Tribunal has developed effective working relationships with States across the former Yugoslavia. As we are nearing a successful completion of the ICTY mandate, we now look forward to building on those ties, working hand in hand with our partners as certain functions are transferred from the Tribunal to the Mechanism.”

The workshops covered the MICT’s mandate, the completion strategy of the ICTY, and the Mechanism’s role in that process. They provided an opportunity for Tribunal representatives and partners to discuss the implications of the transition to the MICT and the importance of sustaining mutual support and assistance.

The first workshop, held on Monday at the Appeals Court in Belgrade, was attended by 30 judges, prosecutors and defense counsels. The High Judicial and Prosecutorial Council in Sarajevo hosted a similar meeting for 20 legal professionals yesterday. Moreover, the Sarajevo and Belgrade liaison offices provided venue for a discussion with over 20 NGO partners.

“The Mechanism’s role in a number of areas such as in facilitating the access to protected witnesses and the Tribunal’s archives are of great importance to us. They have the potential to significantly improve the prosecution of war crimes cases before domestic courts in Bosnia and Herzegovina and of contributing to the successful implementation of our strategy to complete these cases,” said Judge Minka Kreho from the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina.

Judge Theodor Meron today addressed the UN Security Council in his dual capacity as President of both the ICTY and the Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals. President Meron reported on the Tribunal’s progress in relation to its completion strategy and gave details on the ongoing work of the Mechanism and preparations for the launch of its Hague branch on 1 July 2013.

President Meron stressed that “all efforts are being made on the part of the Tribunal to complete its pending judicial work as quickly as possible while fully respecting the fundamental rights of its accused and appellants to due process in accordance with international standards.”

President Meron highlighted the Tribunal’s achievements since his written report to the Security Council in November 2012, pointing out that trial and appeal proceedings had been completed in a total of seven cases.

With regards to the remaining ongoing trial proceedings, President Meron assured the Security Council that the cases of Goran Hadžić and Ratko Mladić remained on schedule and were expected to be completed by the end of 2015 and mid-2016 respectively, as previously forecast. Noting revisions to the estimated completion dates for the trials of Vojislav Šešelj and Radovan Karadžić, President Meron explained that trial judgements in these cases were now expected in October 2013 and July 2015 respectively.

Turning to ongoing appeals proceedings, President Meron informed the Security Council that the Šainović et al. case was expected to be completed by December 2013, as previously projected, whilst it was now anticipated that the cases of Vlastimir Đorđević and Popović et al. would be completed in December 2013 and October 2014 respectively.

In providing details on forecast judgement delivery dates in each of the Tribunal’s cases, President Meron underscored that “the Tribunal has made tremendous progress”. While acknowledging that “there have been some delays in certain proceedings” President Meron assured the Security Council that “a number of different measures have been adopted to minimize delays.” He reminded the Council that “many of the factors leading to these delays are not uncommon to judicial and criminal proceedings the world over,” and added that the impact of unexpected developments is magnified by the “unique situation and mandate of the Tribunal.”

Turning to the work of the Mechanism, President Meron informed the Security Council that all arrangements were in place to ensure “a seamless transfer of functions from the ICTY to the Hague branch of the Mechanism.” President Meron provided the Council with an overview of the Mechanism’s administrative and judicial work, noting that any appeals from ICTY trial judgements in the cases of Šešelj, Karadžić, Hadžić and Mladić were expected to be dealt with by the Mechanism.

Acknowledging the ICTY’s recent 20th anniversary, President Meron concluded his address by thanking the Security Council for “recognizing (…) the Tribunal’s contributions over the past twenty years” and “for recognizing that the Mechanism plays an essential role in ensuring that the impending closure of the ICTY and ICTR will not leave the door open to impunity.”