Malaysia views the reversing trend in cooperation with the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) deeply disturbing, especially in the context of revisionist movement in the region and the glorification of war criminals.

"These are warning signs that must not be ignored by the international community, as they could undermine the great stride that we had made in the past decades towards ending impunity for war crimes, genocide and crimes against humanity," said Malaysia's Permanent Representative to the United Nations (UN), Datuk Ramlan Ibrahim.

In this regard, he said Malaysia had urged Serbia to uphold its legal obligations to resume cooperation with the ICTY, including by executing the tribunal's arrest warrants.

Malaysia also called on the relevant member states in the former Yugoslavia to intensify the pace and effectiveness or war crime prosecutions by their national authorities for cases being referred to their national jurisdictions, he added.

He said this at the United Nations Security Council Debate on the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR) in New York Thursday.

His speech text was sent here Friday.

Meanwhile, Ramlan said if the Security Council had the political will to prevent or stop the mass atrocities committed in Rwanda and in the Balkans region and uphold its responsibility to maintain international peace and security under the UN Charter, there would be no necessity for both tribunals to be created.

"However, in the bloody aftermath of the conflicts in Rwanda and in Bosnia and Herzegovina, the Security Council owes it to the victims to bring the perpetrators to justice for their heinous crimes.

"We also owe it to the victims to remain firm in our commitment to justice and accountability many years later, and to fully support the tribunals to fulfil their mandate until the end of their operation. We simply do not have the moral standing to disown the tribunals," he said.

Malaysia thus, finds it rather incredulous that the priorities of ensuring justice and due process seemed to be buried in overwhelming concerns on budget and deadline, he said. -- BERNAMA