John Clint Williamson

John Clint Williamson, a U.S. diplomat and prosecutor, has served in a variety of senior-level roles with the United States Government, the United Nations, and currently with the European Union. In October 2011, he was appointed to serve as the European Union's Special Prosecutor, examining allegations of organ trafficking commited by Kosovars and Albanians, war crimes, and other serious crimes occurring in the aftermath of the 1999 war in Kosovo. He heads the multi-national EU Special Investigative Task Force which has responsibility for conducting this investigation and bringing any prosecutions that are warranted. Immediately prior to this appointment, from June 2010 to September 2011, Ambassador Williamson served as a Special Expert to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

From his confirmation by the U.S. Senate in June 2006 until September 2009, he served as the United States Ambassador-at-Large for War Crimes Issues, with the rank of an Assistant Secretary of State. In this capacity, he coordinated U.S. Government efforts to further accountability for serious violations of international humanitarian law throughout the world. He was the third person to hold this title.

Immediately prior to his appointment in the Department of State, Ambassador Williamson served as the Acting Special Assistant to the President and Senior Director for Relief, Stabilization, and Development at the National Security Council (NSC). From 2003 to early-2006, he served as the Director for Stability Operations on the NSC staff. During his tenure at the White House, he was instrumental in developing the proposal for creation of a standing U.S. Government post-conflict response capability, which was realized with the establishment of the Office of the Coordinator for Reconstruction and Stabilization in the State Department in mid-2004.

While with the NSC, Ambassador Williamson served a rotation in Baghdad, Iraq in 2003 as the first Senior Adviser to the Iraqi Ministry of Justice. In this capacity, he was responsible for re-instituting judicial operations and ministry functions in the aftermath of the U.S. invasion. From late-2001 through 2002, he served in the UN Department of Peacekeeping Operations as the Director of the Department of Justice in the United Nations Mission in Kosovo, overseeing the justice and prison systems.

From 1994 to 2001, he worked as a Trial Attorney at the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) in The Hague, Netherlands. While at the ICTY, he supervised investigations and field operations in the Balkans, compiled indictments, and prosecuted cases at trial. Among the cases handled by Ambassador Williamson were those against Slobodan Milosevic and the notorious paramilitary leader Zeljko Raznatovic, aka “Arkan,” as well as cases arising from the Yugoslav Army attacks on Vukovar and Dubrovnik, Croatia.

In October 2011, Williamson was appointed in order to investigate allegations of organ traficking in Kosovo. According to Dick Marty http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dick_Marty, a member of the Parliamentary Assembly of the Council of Europe and special investigatior for Kosovo's organ traficking issues, ethnic Albaninans and Kosovars captured Serbs and other minorities in Kosovo and exported their organs accorss the Western Europe and The United States. The horific allegations include Hashim Thaci, Kosovo's Prime Minister. Williams in currently in Albania, investigating the allegations.

Prior to joining the ICTY, Ambassador Williamson served as a Trial Attorney in the U.S. Department of Justice Organized Crime Section and as an Assistant District Attorney in New Orleans, LA.

Ambassador Williamson holds a bachelors degree from Louisiana Tech University in Ruston, LA, and a law degree from Tulane University Law School in New Orleans.

References

• KIFNER, JOHN (July 18, 1999). "INQUIRY ESTIMATES SERB DRIVE KILLED 10,000 IN KOSOVO". The New York Times. http://query.nytimes.com/gst/fullpage.html?res=9A0DE1DE103FF93BA25754C0A96F958260. Retrieved 2008-06-24. 

External links

• Biography: Clint Williamson, United States Department of State

 This article incorporates public domain material from the United States Government document "Biography: Clint Williamson, United States Department of State".