Caribbean national among three new permanent judges

Former Bahamas chief justice, Sir Burton Hall was among three new permanent judges sworn in today before the United Nations war crimes tribunal that was set up to try people accused of committing the worst offences during the Balkan conflicts of the 1990s, according to a report on www.cananews.net.



Sir Burton, along with Guy Delvoie of Belgium and Howard Morrison of the United Kingdom took the oath of office at a ceremony in The Hague where the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) is based.



All three were appointed by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon earlier this year.

ICTY said that the three judges will serve either until the end of 2010 or sooner if the cases to which they are assigned are completed.



\"Under a completion strategy mapped out with the Security Council, the tribunal aims to finish all trials at first instance by the end of this year and then start downsizing next year. The ICTY has 16 permanent judges and 12 \"ad litem\" judges, who are appointed to sit on specific trials.\"



Sir Burton, 61, was elected by the UN General Assembly as an ad litem judge at the ICTY in 2005 and has been Chief Justice of The Bahamas since 2001.



The Tribunal has concluded proceedings against 120 accused persons and proceedings are ongoing against 41 others.