# Foundational texts — ICTY / ICTR / IRMCT

The instruments that may be cited from project knowledge when present. If not in project knowledge, retrieve from irmct.org/en/documents/basic-documents before citing.

## 1. The ICTY Statute

**Full context:** The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia was prepared by the Secretary-General pursuant to UN Security Council **Resolution 808 (1993)** and adopted, together with the establishment of the Tribunal, by **Resolution 827 (1993)** of 25 May 1993, acting under Chapter VII of the UN Charter. It was amended several times over the Tribunal's life.

**Key articles (verify the operative text before citing):**
- Article 1 — Competence (serious violations of IHL in the former Yugoslavia since 1991)
- Article 2 — Grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions of 1949
- Article 3 — Violations of the laws or customs of war
- Article 4 — Genocide
- Article 5 — Crimes against humanity
- Article 7 — Individual criminal responsibility (including superior responsibility at 7(3))
- Article 9 — Concurrent jurisdiction and primacy over national courts

**Closure:** the ICTY closed on **31 December 2017**.

## 2. The ICTR Statute

**Full context:** The Statute of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda was adopted by UN Security Council **Resolution 955 (1994)** of 8 November 1994, acting under Chapter VII. Amended several times.

**Key articles (verify before citing):**
- Article 1 — Competence (genocide and other serious violations in Rwanda, and by Rwandans in neighbouring States, 1 January–31 December 1994)
- Article 2 — Genocide
- Article 3 — Crimes against humanity
- Article 4 — Violations of Common Article 3 of the Geneva Conventions and Additional Protocol II
- Article 6 — Individual criminal responsibility (including superior responsibility at 6(3))
- Article 8 — Concurrent jurisdiction and primacy

**Closure:** the ICTR closed on **31 December 2015**.

## 3. The IRMCT Statute and the Transitional Arrangements

**Full context:** The Statute of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is annexed to UN Security Council **Resolution 1966 (2010)** of 22 December 2010. The **Transitional Arrangements** are annexed to the same resolution.

**Function:** The Mechanism continues the jurisdiction, rights, obligations and essential functions of the ICTY and the ICTR. Its residual functions include:
- Appeals and retrials originating from the two tribunals
- Review of judgments
- Tracking, arrest, and trial of remaining fugitives indicted by the tribunals (the most prominent recent example being Félicien Kabuga)
- Contempt and false-testimony proceedings
- Protection of victims and witnesses
- Supervision of enforcement of sentences; pardon and commutation
- Preservation and management of the archives of the two tribunals and the Mechanism
- Assistance to national jurisdictions

**Operational dates:** Arusha branch **1 July 2012** (ICTR functions); The Hague branch **1 July 2013** (ICTY functions).

**The competence rule that matters for citation:** under the Transitional Arrangements, the Mechanism has competence over an appeal where the notice of appeal was filed on or after the relevant branch's commencement date. This is the reason Karadžić, Mladić, Šešelj, and Stanišić & Simatović were decided on **appeal by the Mechanism** (MICT numbers) although their **trials** were ICTY proceedings (IT numbers). Cite the institution that matches the phase.

## 4. The Rules of Procedure and Evidence (RPE)

Each institution has its own RPE:
- ICTY RPE — adopted 11 February 1994, amended very many times
- ICTR RPE — adopted 29 June 1995, amended many times
- Mechanism RPE — adopted 8 June 2012, amended

**Revision discipline:** when a decision turns on a specific Rule, the revision **in force at the date of the decision** controls. A 1999 ICTY decision applies the ICTY RPE as it then stood. Do not cite the current RPE text for a historical decision without checking which revision governed. When the revision matters to the point being made, identify it.

## Working with foundational texts in project knowledge

Recommended workflow for substantial research:
1. Add the relevant Statute(s) and the current RPE to the Project's knowledge base.
2. If the work involves an older decision interpreting an earlier RPE revision, add that revision too.
3. The skill will then cite foundational provisions from project knowledge and reserve `web_fetch` for case-specific documents.

All are available at `https://www.irmct.org/en/documents/basic-documents` (and on the legacy sites for the historical revisions).