As part of the continuing development of the Justice Rapid Response (JRR) mechanism, No Peace Without Justice, as the Interim JRR Secretariat, has opened today the Third JRR Training Course in Doha, Qatar which will be held from 23January to 1 February, 2011.
NPWJ is implementing the course in partnership with the Office of the General Prosecutor of the State of Qatar, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF) and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI). The Course is conducted in close cooperation with the Arab Democracy Foundation (ADF); with financial support from the governments of Canada, Germany and the Netherlands; and with the support of the JRR Coordinating Group.
At the opening ceremony H.E Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri, Attorney General of the State of Qatar and H. E. Mr. Mohsen Marzouk, Secretary General of the Arab Democracy Foundation joined Andras Vamos-Goldman, the JRR Chair, and Alison Smith, Head of the JRR Secretariat, in welcoming the participants. In his intervention H.E Dr. Ali Bin Fetais Al Marri stressed the importance of JRR to enhance the capacity of national and international systems to prosecute international crimes and human rights violations.
The purpose of the course is to certify experts in international criminal investigations and related fields for inclusion on the JRR Roster. The experts will learn how to apply their expertise to JRR situations and international criminal justice-related deployments, after which they can be added to the JRR roster, helping to expand the pool of expertise represented on the roster.
The course will be attended by 20 experts in various aspects of international criminal investigations. The training sessions will be led by a range of presenters from institutions including NPWJ, the Government of Canada, the National University of Ireland – Galway, the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations. Observers from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Uganda; the Department of Criminal Evidence and Information of the State of Qatar; the Qatari Armed Forces; and the Historic Enquiries Team of the Police Service of Northern Ireland will also attend the course. The following nationalities will be represented in the course: Australian, Austrian, British, Burundian, Colombian, Danish, Emirati, Lebanese, Namibian, Omani, Palestinian, Qatari, Saudi, and Swiss.
Training sessions will provide an overview of crimes within the jurisdiction of the ICC, with a special focus on gender-based crimes and crimes against children. Other sessions will look at methods and approaches to investigating mass crimes, forensic investigations and challenges in working in conflict and post conflict environments. The course will also include a field simulation and presentation by the ICC Prosecutor’s office.
On 28 January 2011, a Presenters Workshop will be held with the participation of almost all presenters in the Third JRR Training Course, NPWJ, Canada, IICI, EAAF, and the representative of Uganda, who will participate in the course as an observer and a member of the JRR Coordinating Group. The purpose of the Presenters Workshop is to broaden the scope and number of experts able to present at a JRR training course and develop further the program and implementation of JRR courses.
JRR is an international cooperative mechanism for the supply of voluntary assistance at the request of a State or international institution, where the identification, collection and preservation of information would assist a wide range of international and transitional justice options. The JRR is a stand-by facility developed to enhance the international community’s ability to assist in the provision of accountability processes for genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity and to ensure that international justice plays an integral role in post-conflict peace building.
No Peace Without Justice acts as the Interim JRR Secretariat in order to facilitate cooperation of partners and the coordination and implementation of the JRR mechanism.
Draft Program of the Course
Please visit the dedicated section of the website.
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-2-54 83 912 or Nicola Giovannini ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548 39 15.
