HANS BRATTSKAR (Norway) noted that the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda had delivered the first-ever judgements on the crime of genocide by an international judicial institution, 50 years after the adoption of the Genocide Convention. Those precedent-setting cases provided the legal confirmation that genocide had actually occurred in Rwanda in 1994, and represented important new building blocks in the international jurisprudence with regard to the prosecution of the most serious international crimes. Thus, the experience obtained by the Rwanda Tribunal was a stepping stone towards the establishment of the International Criminal Court.

He welcomed efforts made to improve working conditions in Arusha and Kigali. Nevertheless, he recognized a potential for further administrative improvements within the Tribunal.

He called on other States to take all legislative steps necessary in order to ensure effective cooperation with it. Concrete support to the Tribunal should be shown through financial and material contributions. He said that the Norwegian Government had declared its willingness to receive a limited number of convicted persons to serve their time in Norway. He welcomed the fact that some other States had undertaken to consider similar requests.