The United Nations War Crimes Tribunals have long been without modem, secure communication technology for speeding up investigations, however IT vendors are now giving a helping hand. The systems will, among other things, end the necessity for the prosecutors in Rwanda and former Yugoslavia to spend days traveling, carrying evidence by hand to the chief prosecutor at the International Court of Justice in Hague, Netherlands, according to U.N. officials. Encrypted transmission via Internet will ensure that witness statements are kept secret. Secrecy and speed is crucial to fight the atrocities, said Pierre Prosper, special counsel to the U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes Issues, who helped conduct a demonstration of the system today in Boston.
Speed is also necessary in order to catch war criminals before they flee to safe havens.
Prosper often had to spend three days traveling from Rwanda to Hague with evidence. IBM was asked for laptops for prosecutors working in the field, but instead the company gave enough computers to form the foundation for a whole new infrastructure, according to Michael Johnson, director of the CJRC and county attorney in Concord. Digital Descriptor Systems Inc., based in Langhorne, Pennsylvania, provided software for making diagrams of a crime scene in cooperation with witnesses, including the capability to capture digital mug shots and video. HTE Inc., based in Lake Mary, Florida, donated software for investigation management and records Management Also, HTE gave a suite of applications with software for courts, jails, district attorneys and public defenders. These applications are integrated with crime scene software.