Letter to the Chairman of the Committee
from Bill Rammell MP, Parliamentary Under Secretary of State,
Foreign and Commonwealth Office, 30 November 2004
ICTY—BUDGETARY
SITUATION
Following the Foreign Affairs Committee's visit
to The Hague in September this year the Foreign and Commonwealth
Office's Parliamentary Relations & Devolution Department forwarded
to you a note on the budgetary situations of various international
courts including the International Criminal Tribunal for the former
Yugoslavia (ICTY).
At that time the FAC and the FCO were concerned
at the level of payments and the arrears due which, at US$57 million,
represented some 33% of the total ICTY budget for 2004. Because
of our concerns, we carried out a lobbying campaign to persuade
the principal debtors to pay their dues. I am pleased to be able
to report that since then the two largest debtors, the US and
Japan, have announced that they are in the process of clearing
their arrears. Combined with payment from Mexico, promised for
the end of the year, and one or two other states, this would bring
total arrears down to some US$15 million or 9.5% of the 2004 budget.
We will continue to press partners to pay their
dues in the hope of avoiding similar situations in the future.
Bill Rammell MP
Parliamentary Under Secretary of State
Foreign and Commonwealth Office
30 November 2004
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