United Nations Detention Unit

Main entrance to the Hague Penitentiary Institution at the Scheveningen location
Security area at the entrance at the Scheveningen location
A typical 10 m2[1] single cell at the ICTY detention facilities

The United Nations Detention Unit (UNDU) is a UN-administered jail. It is part of the Hague Penitentiary Institution's Scheveningen location, more popularly known as Scheveningen Prison, in The Hague, Netherlands. The UNDU was established in 1993 as part of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and currently houses detainees whose cases have been taken over by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT).[2]

The penitentiary also hosts the ICC Detention Centre for the detention of people awaiting trial before the International Criminal Court. The penitentiary was picked as a trial location for the International Criminal Court, through United Nations Security Council Resolution 1688 of 17 June 2006.[3]

Its current and former inmates include Slobodan Milošević and Radovan Karadžić. Former Liberian president Charles Taylor who was on trial before the Special Court for Sierra Leone was also held in the penitentiary until his transfer to a UK prison in 2013.[4]

  1. ^ "Profile: Scheveningen prison". BBC News. 16 May 2012.
  2. ^ United Nations Detention Unit, IRMCT Website
  3. ^ United Nations Security Council resolution 1688 Archived September 9, 2008, at the Wayback Machine
  4. ^ Associated Press, "Charles Taylor to serve 50-year war crimes sentence in Britain", The Telegraph, 10 October 2013