In the late 1990s there was a need at the United Nations for
a thorough report to the U.N. on the work and activities of the International
Criminal Tribunals for Yugoslavia and Rwanda. As a result the then U.N.
Secretary-General, Kofi Annan, appointed Justice Hassam Bubacar Jallow from The Gambia to
serve as an international jurist to carry out a judicial evaluation of the two
tribunals. At that time Justice Jallow was Minister of Justice of his country.
Prior to this appointment Justice Jallow had already had a distinguished legal
career. He had served as a legal advisor for the Organization of African Unity
and helped prepare for and draft the African Charter of Human and People’s
Rights.
Justice Jallow has also rendered distinguished service in
other capacities for his country and for international justice: as a justice of
The Gambia’s Supreme Court; as Chair of the Governmental Work Group of Experts
in Human Rights; as a Judge on the Appeals Chamber of