The Chambers

The three Trial Chambers and the Appeals Chamber are composed of judges elected by the General Assembly from a list submitted by the Security Council. They are initially selected from a list of nominees submitted by Member States of the United Nations. Nominations must take account of adequate representation of the principal legal systems of the world. The judges are elected for a term of four years. They are eligible for re-election.

Three Trial Chambers and an Appeals Chamber are composed of 16 independent judges. No two of them may be nationals of the same State. Three judges sit in each of the Trial Chambers and five judges sit in the Appeals Chamber which is shared with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

By its Resolution 1431 of 14 August 2002 the Security Council decided to establish a pool of 18 ad litem judges. At any one time, a maximum of four ad litem judges may be attached to the Trial Chambers. On 27 October 2003, the United Nations Security Council adopted Resolution 1512 and increased the number of ad litem judges who may serve on the Tribunal at any one time from 4 to 9. By its Resolution 1855 of 19 December 2008, the United Nations Security Council decided that the Secretary-General may appoint, within existing resources, additional ad litem Judges upon request of the President of the International Tribunal in order to complete existing trials or conduct additional trials, notwithstanding that the total number of ad litem Judges appointed to the Chambers will from time to time temporarily exceed the maximum of nine provided for in article 11, paragraph 1, of the Statute of the International Tribunal, to a maximum of twelve at any one time, returning to a maximum of nine by 31 December 2009.