Mechanism president briefs UN Security Council on sentence enforcement, archives and lingering cases

Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, president of the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, briefed the United Nations Security Council on the mechanism’s recent work, including ongoing judicial activity, sentence enforcement, outstanding detention and relocation issues, and preparations tied to Resolution 2740 (2024).

Gatti Santana said the mechanism has continued active judicial work even as core crime trials and appeals have concluded. “During the reporting period, the judges of the mechanism issued over a 100 decisions and orders, nearly 90 of them pertaining to the mechanism’s continuous judicial functions,” she told the council. She also reported that about 30 decisions and orders related to access to confidential information and requests to vary protective measures, demonstrating the mechanism’s role in safeguarding witnesses and supporting national prosecutions.

The president described the mechanism’s limited but consequential use of contempt jurisdiction. She reported that in February 2025 a single judge…