Special Tribunal For Lebanon - Mandate

Mandate

The court was established by an agreement between the United Nations and the Lebanese Republic pursuant to Security Council resolution 1664 (2006) of 29 March 2006. The United Nations Security Council, acting under Chapter VII of the Charter of the United Nations, endorsed the agreement on 30 May 2007 (Security Council Resolution 1757 (2007)).

The tribunal's mandate is to "prosecute persons responsible for the attack on 14 February 2005 resulting in the death of sitting Prime Minister Rafiq Hariri and in the death or injury of other persons." It was also tasked with a further extension of its jurisdiction beyond the 14 February 2005 bombing if there was evidence showing other attacks that occurred in Lebanon between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005 were connected and were of a similar nature and gravity to the original attack. Human Rights Watch had argued that the tribunal should have been given jurisdiction over 14 other attacks perpetrated in Lebanon since 1 October 2004. The tribunal said it could expand its mandate to include attacks which took place between 1 October 2004 and 12 December 2005, if they can be shown to have a connection to the assassination.

The tribunal marks the first time that a UN-based international criminal court tries a "terrorist" crime committed against a specific person. According to United Nations Security Council Resolution 1664 (2006), it is a "tribunal of an international character based on the highest international standards of criminal justice."

The Special Tribunal is a "hybrid" international court, similar to the Special Court for Sierra Leone and the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). The STL does not apply international (criminal) law, but rather national law (Article 2 of the Statute of the Special Tribunal). Accordingly, it also is similar to the Section I for War Crimes and Section II for Organized Crime, Economic Crime and Corruption of the Criminal and Appellate Divisions of the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina which has such "hybrid" chambers.