Time for eULeX To prioriTize war crimes - Amnesty International ...

Kosovo: Time for EULEX to prioritize war crimes 49
10. A SUSTAINABLE
PROSECUTORIAL AND JUDICIAL
SYSTEM
“The CSDP mission will assist the Kosovo authorities, judicial authorities and law
enforcement agencies in their progress towards sustainability and accountability. It will
further develop and strengthen an independent and multi-ethnic justice system and a multiethnic
police and customs service, ensuring that these institutions are free from political
interference and adhering to internationally recognised standards and European best
practices”, EULEX Mission Statement. 140
Amnesty International considers that measures must taken by EULEX in 2012-2014 to
develop the capacity and independence of both prosecutors and judges, to ensure that in the
future, Kosovo will be able to prosecute crimes under international law and other grave
human rights violations.
Amnesty International therefore recommends that EULEX, in conjunction with other
providers, develops a programme to build the capacity of local prosecutors within the SPRK,
who have the potential, capacity and willingness to investigate and prosecute such crimes.
Such a programme should include:
� An intensive programme of training for selected prosecutors and judges (including newly
arrived EULEX staff) in international humanitarian, human rights and criminal law, and in the
jurisprudence of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, developed in
conjunction with the Kosovo Prosecutorial Council (KPC) and Kosovo Judicial council (KJC);
� Within the framework of EULEX’s Monitoring, Mentoring and Advising (MMA)
programme, a programme for the gradual transfer from the current practice of monitoring and
supervision of the work of SPRK prosecutors by EULEX prosecutors, to their mentoring and
advising SPRK Prosecutors, as is currently the case in District Prosecutors’ Offices. This
programme should be jointly managed by the Head of the SPRK and the local deputy, in
conjunction with the Chief Prosecutor of Kosovo;
� Further measures to ensure the independence and impartiality of local prosecutors and
judges;
� Implementation of measures for the protection of Kosovo prosecutors, judges and their
families in war crimes cases.
Without a truly independent, impartial – and multi-ethnic –body of local prosecutors and
judges it is likely that the legacy of war crimes cases which will inevitably be left by EULEX,
will neither be promptly nor independently investigated.
Index: EUR 70/004/2012 Amnesty International April 2012