UNITED NATIONS, June 8 (Xinhua) -- In tackling the global challenges posed by COVID-19, the world must not ignore the perils of endemic hatred and division, a senior UN judge told the Security Council on Monday.

Carmel Agius, president of the UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, briefed the Council by webcast on the mechanism's caseload developments.

"We see every day that these destructive forces are becoming more virulent, and that the purveyors of hate feel emboldened," Agius said. "We must combat their version of events and offer our solidarity and support to all those who have suffered."

Against that backdrop, remarkable headway has been made on fugitive-tracking, he said, praising member states for providing assistance.

"Let us use this momentum to keep advancing the cause of international justice," he said.

More broadly, he said that as COVID-19 has affected in-court proceedings, cases that were on track to conclude by the end of 2020 are now expected to wind down in 2021.

Serge Brammertz, prosecutor for the residual mechanism, said the arrest by French authorities of Felicien Kabuga -- among the most wanted fugitives and alleged leaders of the 1994 genocide in Rwanda -- was the culmination of his office's revised tracking strategy and intensified efforts since 2016.

"The most significant development since my last report is that we have now accounted for two of the three major fugitives indicted by the ICTR," Brammertz said.

The office has shifted from reacting to leads from unreliable human sources to a more proactive, analysis-driven investigation, he said.

Stressing the need to redouble efforts to locate and arrest the remaining fugitives, Brammertz said that the denial of crimes and glorification of convicted war criminals remain immense challenges.

Particularly among Rwandan diaspora communities, there are still concerted efforts to deny the Rwandan genocide, he added.

"Our first thoughts must be with the victims and survivors of the genocide," he said. "Their demand for justice is our raison d'etre."