The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals is a mechanism established by United Nations Security Council resolution 1966 (2010) to finish the work begun by the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). It will be subdivided into two branches corresponding the current two tribunals. The ICTR branch is to begin functioning on 1 July 2012, the ICTY branch on 1 July 2013. The resolution establishing the Mechanism calls upon the two tribunals to finish their work by 31 December 2014 and to prepare their closure and transition of cases to the Mechanism. The Mechanism "shall continue the jurisdiction, rights and obligations and essential functions of the ICTY and the ICTR" (paragraph 4 of the UNSCR 1966).
The Mechanism will not have the power to indict people except those who interfere with the administration of justice or give false testimony (paragraph 1 of the Statute of the Mechanism).
The Mechanism will comprise one Trial Chamber for each branch and a common Appeals Chamber. The Prosecutor will be responsible for both branches.
As of July 2011, nine indictees are still at large; all of them were indicted by the ICTR: Pheneas Munyarugarama, Ladislas Ntaganzwa, Aloys Ndimbati, Charles Ryandikayo, Charles Sikubwabo, Augustin Bizimana, Félicien Kabuga, Protais Mpiranya and Fulgence Kayishema.
As of August 2011, in the ICTY three cases against five persons are in the Pre-Trial Phase, eight cases against 14 persons are in the Trial Phase and five cases against 17 persons are in the Appeals phase. It is the ICTY's goal to finish all proceedings on its own by 2013, save the trials against Ratko Mladić and Goran Hadžić.
In the ICTR, there is one case against one person in the Pre-Trial Phase, six cases against ten persons are in the Trial Phase and nineteen persons' proceedings are in the Appeals Phase. The ICTR has not yet issued an up-to-date estimation on its ability to complete specific trials by the 2012/2014 deadlines.