The head of the Vietnamese mission to the UN has confirmed Vietnam ’s stance to support the role and contributions of international criminal tribunals.

“Vietnam has always maintained that perpetrators of the most serious crimes, such as crimes of genocide, war crimes, crime of aggression and crimes against humanity, must be brought to justice,” Ambassador Le Luong Minh said at a UN Security Council meeting, which was held in New York on Dec. 3-4.

He said Vietnam considers that as these tribunals are courts of last resort, it is essential to respect the primary role of national jurisdictions and to render capacity building assistance to national judiciaries, as necessary, in order to enable them to take up their judicial responsibilities.

Regarding the situation in Darfur, Ambassador Minh said Vietnam supports the efforts of the African Union to engage with the Sudanese government in deploying the 7-track solution package to achieve peace, security and reconciliation in Darfur.

“We welcome the creation of the AU high-level panel of independent African individuals, whose mandate is to address the inter-linked issues of combating impunity and promoting peace and reconciliation,” the ambassador said.

He called for all parties to the armed conflicts in Darfur to implement the Security Council’s resolution 1593.

“Vietnam supports responsible actions by the Council which takes into account the concern and position of its important regional peace and security partner,” the ambassador added.

The UNSC discussion focused on activities of two international criminal tribunals on former Yugoslavia and Rwanda in the last six months of 2009 and report of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court to the Security Council pursuant to the Council’s resolution 1593./.