Your Excellency:
We are very grateful for the letter you sent in March of this year to U.N. Member States asking them to make contributions to the Sierra Leone Special Court. We are aware that you worked tirelessly to convince states to make initial voluntary contributions to the Court so that it could commence operations. We too are very concerned about the lack of financial support the Court is receiving from states, and urge you to take every appropriate opportunity to raise this issue bilaterally with states.
The outstanding facts as we know them are that the Court is far short of its estimated budget for its second and third years of operation. For the Court's second year of operation, it has received pledges of only $13.5 million, of which only $6.3 million have been redeemed. This is out of an estimated budget of $24.8 million. For the Court's third year of operation, the figures are even more dire - the Court has only $7.4 million in pledges. Thus, as things currently stand, the Court will run out of money by the end of 2003.
As you know, the Court's budget is already "bare-bones," having been reduced from the originally proposed $118 million. Therefore, it is very crucial to the Court that it receive the full amounts budgeted.
Since its inception, we believe the Special Court has made significant progress. As you know, the first eight indictments for war crimes and crimes against humanity charges have come out, and six of the eight individuals are in custody. The Office of the Prosecutor (OTP) is nearly fully staffed and operational. The Registrar has made major advances in establishing the necessary infrastructure for the Court, setting up offices and clearing the future site for the Court building. Judges have been sworn in, finalized the Court's rules of procedure, and presided at initial hearings. In addition, the Special Court has launched an outreach and legacy project, which is designed to promote the rule of law and accountability long after the trials have ended. We believe that it is critically important to maintain this positive momentum, which can only be done if member states assist by contributing financially.
The Court is not only important in bringing justice to the victims in Sierra Leone, but to send the critically important message to those individual state and non-state actors in West Africa who are responsible for serious abuses, including war crimes, that these types of crimes are unacceptable and that there will be accountability for them.
We are grateful for your leadership on this important issue.
Thank you.
Sincerely,
Richard Dicker
Director, International Justice Program
Joanna Weschler
U.N. Representative
