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Stenographers of International Tribunals form associationBy Hirondelle News Agency An association of stenographers working for international tribunals has been formed at the headquarters of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in Arusha. The aim of the association is to Apromote the essential and fundamental nature of experienced stenographers in an international judicial environment@. The association which groups 30 of the 39 stenographers attached to the tribunal has elected a six-member executive committee headed by Laure Ketchem from Cameroon. It has a mandate of two years. The stenographers take down daily transcripts, in both French and English, of debates in court and give them out in a matter of hours to both the defence and the prosecution. The judges consult the same transcripts to make their decisions. The creation of the association comes at a time when the ICTR is approaching the end of its mandate in 2008 and has embarked on a hiring freeze due to financial constraints. At the sister tribunal in The Hague which tries crimes committed in the former Yugoslavia, stenography is carried out by a private Canadian firm which follows debates via a secure satellite link and sends back the transcripts.
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