Projects

ICLS’ past, current and planned projects and programmes include the following:

IICI-ICLS TRAINING PROGRAMME IN UGANDA. ICLS and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) are partnering on an IICI-led programme in Uganda.  The ICC-focused programme comprises three training and awareness-raising events held in Kampala for Ugandan prosecutors, investigators, judges, other justice-sector officials, defence counsel and civil-society representatives.  The background to the programme is Uganda’s evolving multi-pronged efforts to end impunity for atrocity crimes, the ICC’s work on Uganda, the recent passing of the ICC act by parliament, and the upcoming ICC Review Conference which will be held in Kampala.  The first training has already taken place; it was primarily aimed at war-crimes investigators and prosecutors.  The remaining two will be held in the near future.  The programme is financially supported by the Austrian Development Agency (ADA) with the backing of Uganda’s Justice, Law and Order Sector authorities.

RWANDA CAPACITY-ENHANCEMENT PROJECT. ICLS is partnering with the Institute of Legal Practice and Development (ILPD) in Nyanza (Rwanda) and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) in The Hague on a project enhancing the capacity of Rwandan investigators and prosecutors to deal with genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes cases (other than gacaca cases, but including remaining category-1 cases, any extradition and any ICTR-transferred cases) in that country.

The August 2009 training event in Kigali organised by the three partners involved more than 20 investigators and prosecutors.  The training was facilitated by foreign and Rwandan experts.  The ICLS expert trainers were Judge Kimberly Prost (ICTY), Mr Dermot Groome (Senior Trial Attorney, ICTY) and Mr Rod Dixon (international criminal law expert and counsel for Rwanda at ICTR and in extradition proceedings before courts in England & Wales).

As part of this project, ICLS is publishing a “commentary” on Rwanda’s Transfer Law.  The law is meant to facilitate the transfer of cases from the ICTR to Rwanda under rule 11bis of the ICTR Rules of Procedure and Evidence and the extradition of suspects accused of genocide and other atrocity crimes to Rwanda from foreign countries.  The “Notes on Rwanda’s Transfer Law” are meant to assist practitioners and others in Rwanda and elsewhere working on transfer and extradition cases.  The notes were written by ICLS’ Executive Director, Mr Gabriël Oosthuizen, and are also available in French: “Notes sur la Loi relative au Transfert du Rwanda“.

This project is made possible through grants from the Foundation Open Society Institute (Zug) and the UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office.

STRENGTHENING THE ICC: STUDY ON GAPS IN LESSONS-LEARNED STUDIES IN RELATION TO OTHER INTERNATIONAL AND HYBRID CRIMINAL COURTS. Dr Gideon Boas, the lead ICLS Expert on this project, and ICLS’ Executive Director, Mr Gabriël Oosthuizen, completed a study identifying International Criminal Court-relevant gaps in lessons-learned studies in relation to international and hybrid criminal courts, including the UN international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.  See their report “Suggestions for future lessons-learned studies: the experience of other international and hybrid criminal courts of relevance to the International Criminal Court“.  It is hoped that the report will spur comprehensive lessons-learned studies in key identified areas, and that such studies would help the ICC meet its key challenges more proficiently and efficiently.  Potential areas for lessons-learned studies include: the governance of the court and ASP and the relationship between these bodies; complementarity; cooperation; and the protection of victims and witnesses.

The UK’s Foreign and Commonwealth Office (FCO) commissioned and funded the production of the report.   The views expressed in the report are not necessarily those of the FCO, ICLS, those who assisted in producing it, or the interviewed experts.

ROUNDTABLE DISCUSSION ON ICC IN MADRID. ICLS is collaborating with Ms Bettina Ambach to organise a roundtable discussion in Madrid on the ICC.  Themed “Approaching the Review Conference in Kampala: The International Criminal Court — Achievements and Challenges “, the meeting was held on 12 March 2010. Covering topical issues such as the ICC and Africa and the realisation of positive complementarity, the roundtable assessed the successes and challenges of the ICC in the run-up to the ICC review conference which will be held in Uganda in mid-2010.  The discussants included representatives of states parties to the ICC Statute, court officials, and civil-society representatives.  The ICLS component of the project is financially supported by the German ministry of foreign affairs.

MEDIA WORKSHOPS ON INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL JUSTICE IN KENYA AND UGANDA. ICLS is collaborating with Ms Bettina Ambach on a project aimed at raising awareness of international criminal justice issues among radio journalists in Kenya and Uganda.  The role and functioning of the ICC, and the role of national justice processes in the ICC framework, are among the issues to be addressed.  The project is also aimed at enhancing the technical capacity of radio journalists to produce effective radio programmes addressing international criminal and transitional justice issues.  The 2-week workshop in Uganda (Kampala) was successfully concluded in September 2009, and the 2-week workshop in Kenya (Nairobi), in mid-December 2009.  ICC, national government and national NGO officials were among the presenters at the workshops. The possibility of additional workshops is being explored.  The project is financially supported by the German ministry of foreign affairs.

BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA TRANSITION PROJECT. Two ICLS experts, Mr David Tolbert and Mr Aleksandar Kontic, completed an assessment of the sustainability of the State Court and State Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina (BiH) after 2009 against the background of the current transition arrangements, including the phasing out of the participation of international judges and prosecutors. The assessment was done on behalf of the Registry to the said court and prosecutor. See the ”Final report of the International Criminal Law Services (ICLS) experts on the sustainable transition of the Registry and international donor support to the Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina and the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina in 2009” of the ICLS experts, who are engaged in follow-up activities. The assessment and follow-up activities are funded by the Swedish International Development Agency.

The conclusions of the final report were taken into account in the recent decisions of the High Representative of BiH extending the presence of international judges and prosecutors for a further transitional period. See the decision on international judges: Decision Enacting the Law on Amendment to the Law on Court of Bosnia and Herzegovina, and the decision on international prosecutors: Decision Enacting the Law on Amendments to the Law on Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia and Herzegovina, available on the website of the BiH Office of the High Representative and EU Special Representative (www.ohr.int).

SOUTHERN AFRICA PROGRAMME. ICLS, in cooperation with regional and national partners, is launching the first of its region-wide, long-term capacity-building programmes. The Southern Africa Programme is aimed at building and strengthening the capacity of senior lawyers (including judges, prosecutors, government legal advisers and human rights NGO workers) from the Southern African Development Community region in the field of international criminal law as applied in national, international and other fora. The programme consists of various tailored training seminars, workshops, and research and awareness-raising activities. The launch workshop is co-organised with the Centre for Human Rights in Tshwane (Pretoria) and the Rule of Law Programme of the Konrad Adenauer Foundation. The current special advisers to the programme are Judge Florence Mumba, Judge of the Supreme Court of Zambia; Ms. Yasmin Sooka, Executive Director of the South-Africa based Foundation for Human Rights; and Mr. Phakiso Mochochoko, Senior Legal Adviser, Registry, International Criminal Court.

BUSINESS PEOPLE AND INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL LAW. ICLS has launched a programme focussing on international criminal law principles and their application to business people, including executives and contractors of multinational corporations. Ms Magda Karagiannakis, an experienced international criminal law practitioner, is ICLS’ special adviser to the programme.

ICLS’ Executive Director addressed the 2009 annual conference of the British Institute of International and Comparative Law on the potential criminal liability of business people under international genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes law.  The theme of the London-held conference was “Business and international law”.  “Business and international crimes” was the theme of the panel in which the Executive Director participated.

The Executive Director addressed an international conference held in late 2008 in Johannesburg on  the potential criminal liability of business people under international genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes law in the South African context.  The conference, themed “Business and fundamental rights: the state duty to protect and domestic legal reform” was organised by the South African Institute for Advanced Constitutional, Public, Human Rights & International Law (SAIFAC).

PARTNERSHIP WITH UC BERKELEY WAR CRIMES STUDIES CENTER. ICLS recently partnered with the War Crimes Studies Center (WCSC) of the University of California at Berkeley, assisting it on its project monitoring the Special Court for Sierra Leone, in particular its monitoring of the ongoing trial of ex-Liberian president Charles Taylor which the WCSC is monitoring in partnership with the Open Society Justice Initiative.

RESIDUAL-FUNCTIONS PROJECTS. ICLS has prepared a briefing paper, commissioned by the Open Society Justice Initiative (OSJI) in 2008, on the potential role that the International Criminal Court could play in the residual functions of the UN international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone.  These are the judicial, prosecutorial and registry functions that the three courts or their successor(s) will have to perform after their current completion dates.

In early 2007 ICLS prepared a briefing paper (marked “draft”) commissioned by OSJI on the residual functions of the UN international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone. ICLS and OSJI updated the briefing paper (marked “draft”) in early 2008. The briefing papers were used as discussion documents at two expert-group meetings.  ICLS’ Executive Director addressed these meetings on residual-functions issues.  The briefing papers have been circulated among the 15 member states of the UN Security Council’s working group on the ad hoc UN tribunals.

ICLS recently partnered with FIDH (the International Federation for Human Rights) and REDRESS to hold a conference in Brussels on “The unfinished business of the UN international criminal tribunals of the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda: The future role of the EU and its member states”.  The conference was held on 2 April 2009 at the European Parliament.  ICLS’ Executive Director and other ICLS associates, including a member of its Board of Directors, addressed the meeting.  ICLS also prepared a background paper to the conference.

See also the entry on the roundtable organised by the UN International Criminal Tribunals for Rwanda further down.

ECCC (KHMER ROUGE COURT) PROJECT. In 2005, ICLS and the OSJI contracted an ICLS expert, Ms Magda Karagiannakis, to develop training materials for the training of judges and other lawyers on the international criminal law relevant to the Khmer Rouge chambers (Extraordinary Chambers for the period of the Democratic Kampuchea in Cambodia/ ECCC). The materials have been translated into Khmer. Ms Karagiannakis updated the materials in 2006.  She and the Executive Director of ICLS updated the materials in early 2009. OSJI funded the updates and translations into Khmer. The original and updated materials have been and continue to be used at training seminars in Cambodia, including training seminars organised or hosted by the Cambodian bar association, the International Bar Association, the defence support section of the Khmer Rouge court (DSS), the East-West Center, and the Berkeley War Crimes Studies Center.  ECCC practitioners also use them as reference resource.

ICLS and OSJI also identified potential government nominees for positions of international judges, investigating judges and prosecutors at the Khmer Rouge chambers. A list of potential candidates for other international positions in the judges’ chambers, prosecutors’ office and the office of administration, as well as for defence counsel and court interpreters, was also assembled. To facilitate the official recruitment process, ICLS and OSJI in 2005 forwarded the database of qualified professionals to the UN. In response to a request by the UN International Independent Investigation Commission (Hariri/Lebanon commission), ICLS and OSJI in September 2006 forwarded the database to the commission in support of its effort to identify potential lawyers and investigators.

ROUNDTABLE ON INTERNATIONAL COOPERATION BETWEEN NATIONAL PROSECUTING AUTHORITIES AND PROSECUTORS OF UN COURTS (NPA FORUM). ICLS’ Executive Director addresed the meeting organised by the Office of the Prosecutor of the UN International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda in Arusha at the end of November 2008 as a member of the panel “The role of NGOs and civil society in the fight against impunity”. The meeting focussed on the continuation of the fight against impunity after the ‘closure’ of the UN international criminal tribunals for the former Yugoslavia and Rwanda and the Special Court for Sierra Leone in particular.

BRIEFING PAPER: TRIALS IN ABSENTIA.In 2006, ICLS prepared a briefing paper on trials in absentia under international criminal law for OSJI.