In view of the meetings to be held next week with the UN leadership, the Hon. Emma Bonino met on Friday 28 October with Dr.Fleischauer, Under Secretary General for Legal Affairs. Dr.Fleischauer did not seem overly optimistic concerning the timing and the implementation of the ad hoc Tribunal. In fact, although the formalities have been respected with a relatively brief delay, Dr.Fleischauer indicated that there remained some outstanding issues to resolve:

1)the budget: the relevant Commission of the General Assembly is experiencing a conflict concerning the proposal of the Secretary General to attribute to the regular budget the expected costs of the Tribunal. Several countries have objected, stating that the funding should be on a voluntary basis as in the case of peacekeeping operations. Dr.Fleischauer argues that only after the convening of the Tribunal (on 17 November) will the adoption of the proposed budget become easier ($ 31 million proposed by the Secretary General which does not take into account contingencies that will be brought forward by the elected judges);

2)headquarters: The Government of the Netherlands has committed itself only to offering six months free rent of the premises for the Tribunal. All other logistic issues connected to the work of the Tribunal (detention of alleged defendants, protection of witnesses...) remain unresolved. In the case that the Netherlands will not furnish sufficient guarantees in this sense, Fleischauer does not exclude the possibility of researching the availability of other countries to host the Tribunal;

3)timing: in the light of the financial difficulties and taking into account the formalities which the 11 judges must settle in the course of their first session (17-30 November) such as the election of their President, the composition of the Registry, the rules of procedure, etc... Dr. Fleischauer foresees a minimum of a 6 to 9 month period before the Tribunal can begin to operate in reality and therefore begin to gather evidence, identify victims and witnesses,...

Concerning the permanent international criminal Court:

Dr. Fleischauer was not optimistic that this year's General

Assembly resolution would give the International Law Commission a

firm deadline to complete the draft statute for such a Court in 1994.

THE DELEGATION TO MEET WITH UN SECRETARY GENERAL, AND THE PRESIDENTS OF THE SECURITY COUNCIL AND GENERAL ASSEMBLY - LED BY EMMA BONINO - WILL ADDRESS THESE MATTERS (November 1 & 2).