David Tolbert (2015–2021)

Biography

David Tolbert was the President of the International Center for transitional Justice (ICTJ) from 2010 to 2018. Previously he served as Registrar (Assistant Secretary-Gerneral) at the Special Tribunal for Lebanon and prior to that was Assistant Secretary-General and Special Expert on United Nations Assistance to the Khmer Rouge Trials.

From 2004 to 2008, Mr. Tolbert served as Deputy Chief Prosecutor of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yogoslavia (ICTY). He had previously been the Deputy Registrar of the ICTY and at an earlier time served at the ICTY as Chef de Cabinet to President Gabrielle Kirk McDonald and Senior Legal Advisor Registry, serving a total of nine years at the ICTY. From 2000 to 2003 Mr. Tolbert held the position of Executive Director of the American Bar Association’s Central European and Eurasian Law Initiative, which operates rule-of-law development programs throughout Eastern Europe and the former Soviet Union. He also held the position of Chief of the General Legal Division of the United Nations Relief Works Agency in Vienna Austria, and Gaza.

Mr. Tolbert frequently lectures and makes public appearances on international justice issues. He also represented the ICTY in the discussion leading up to the creation of the ICC and the Rome Conference and served as an expert to the ICC Preparatory Committee Inter-Sessional meetings.