Hybrid TRIBUNALS

The Special Panels for Serious Crimes in East-Timor was established by the United Nations Transitional Administration in East-Timor (UNTAET). The UN acted as transitional authority between the 1999 end of Indonesian occupation and the independence of East-Timor in 2002.

The Special Panels were mandated to try the following serious criminal offences committed in 1999 in East-Timor: genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity, murder, sexual offences and torture. The crimes had to be committed in East-Timor an/or needed to have been committed by or against citizens from East-Timor. The UNTAET also established the Serious Crimes Unit to investigate and prosecute alleged perpetrators.

The Special Panels have suffered from a lack of support and funding by both East-Timor and the UN. Furthermore, from the fact that Indonesia refused to cooperate, as well as the discontinuation of hundreds of investigations into criminal conduct. 

The mandate of the Panels finished on 20 May 2005.

Upon request of the United Nations Security Council, the War Crimes Chamber in the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina was established on 3 July  2002 and began its operations on 9 March  2005. The War Crimes Chamber in BiH is responsible for the prosecution of persons responsible for serious violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. When it was initially established, it was responsible for trying the cases of lower to mid-level perpetrators referred to it by the ICTY (which itself focussed on those bearing the greatest responsibility). The WCC is also responsible for cases submitted to it by the Office of the Prosecutor of the ICTY for investigations that were incomplete. It also aimed to provide the national judiciary with the capacity to run war crimes trials according to international standards

The War Crimes Chamber is no longer seen as a so-called hybrid tribunal, as it has become a fully operational Bosnian domestic court.

After the Kosovo-war, the Regulation 64 panels in the Courts of Kosovo were established on 10 June  1999 by the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK). Regulation 2000/64 provided for panels consisting of at least two international judges (who can also constitute the majority) and one judge from Kosovo that should take up cases where it is “necessary to ensure the independence and impartiality of the judiciary or the proper administration of justice”.

They had jurisdiction for war crimes and genocide and were to address cases which the ICTY could not deal with due to a lack of resources and/or mandate. 

On 3 February 2009 the European Union justice mission EULEX in Kosovo opened its first war crimes trial since it took over from the UN mission. On 3 June 2009 the European Union announced it would investigate 1119 Kosovo war crimes cases that remained unresolved a decade after the end of its conflict. Files on the cases were handed over to EULEX. Due to the change in the mandate of EULEX since 2014, the prosecution of war crimes and post-war crimes has and will progressively become a task for the local judiciary. In December 2019 

EULEX concluded  the handover of police, prosecutorial and judicial case files to Kosovo authorities.

The Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office are part of the judicial system of Kosovo. They are mandated to conduct trials for allegations deriving from a 2011 Council of Europe report "Inhuman Treatment of People and Illicit Trafficking in Human Organs in Kosovo", which alleged serious violations of international law.

They are of temporary nature with a specific mandate and jurisdiction, namely over certain crimes against humanity, war crimes and other crimes under Kosovo law which allegedly occurred between 1 January 1998 and 31 December 2000.  The Specialist Chambers have a seat in The Hague, the Netherlands, and are to be staffed with international judges, prosecutors and staff. 

The Specialist Chambers comprises two organs, the Chambers and the Registry. The Specialist Prosecutor’s Office is an independent office for the investigation and prosecution of the crimes within the jurisdiction of the Specialist Chambers.

 The Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) was a judicial body set up in 2002 by the government of Sierra Leone and the United Nations. It tried those bearing the greatest responsibility for serious international crimes against civilians and UN peacekeepers committed during the country's decade-long (1991-2002) civil war. It was only  mandated to prosecute and try for crimes committed in Sierra Leone after 30 November 1996, the date of the failed Abidjan Peace Accord. The Special Court consisted of three institutions: the Registry, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Chambers (for trials and appeals). The Special Court had offices in Freetwon, The Hague and New York. 

On 26 April 2012, former Liberian President Charles Taylor became the first African head of state to be convicted for his part in war crimes.

In 2013 it completed its mandate and started a transition of remaining taks and responsibilities to the Residual Special Court for Sierra Leone.

The Extraordinary African Chambers  is a tribunal established under a 2012 agreement between the African Union and Senegal to try the "person or persons" most responsible for international crimes (genocide, vrimes against humanity, war crimes and torture) committed in Chad from 7 June 1982 to 1 December 1990. This period corresponds to the regime of former Chadian president Hissène Habré. The Extraordinary African Chambers operated from 8 February  2013 until 27 April  2017 in Dakar, Senegal.

On 30 June 2013 Hissène Habré was arrested in Dakar.In July 2013, the chief prosecutor requested the indictment of five additional officials from Habré’s administration suspected of being responsible for international crimes. However, none of them was brought before the court. As a result, only Habré was committed to trial.

On 25 March 2015, in a separate court, 20 top security agents of the 1982-1990 Hissène Habré dictatorship were convicted, while 4 defendants were  acquitted of the charges brought against them. The cases has previously been stalled until Senegal had set up the Chambers. 

Hissène Habré's trial began on 20 July 2015.  trial was the first time the principle of universal jurisdiction, which permits countries to try grave crimes regardless of where the crimes were committed, led to a case proceeding to trial in Africa. It was also the first time a former ruler was prosecuted in the courts of another country for international crimes. The Habré judgment was pronounced on 30 May  2016. He was  found guilty of crimes against humanity of rape, sexual slavery, murder, summary execution and inhuman acts, torture and the war crimes of murder, torture, inhumane treatment, unlawful detention and cruel treatment. He was sentenced to life imprisonment. The judgement was upheld by the Appeals Chamber.