Developing curricula and materials
Bolstering staffing capacity in key areas
The first-ever training curriculum on international criminal
law and practice for local justice actors in the region was
developed with the International Criminal Law Series
(ICLS) in partnership with local judicial and prosecutorial
training institutions and in consultation with national and
international experts. It provides the ever-growing number
of local expert trainers with a wealth of tailor-made
materials, resources and methodological suggestions. The
training curriculum brings ICTY jurisprudence together
with the region’s developing body of domestic war
crimes jurisprudence and provides training institutions
with a platform for the sustainable delivery of training
programmes for war crimes justice actors.
During the course of the project, 32 support staff were
embedded in the justice institutions of Bosnia and
Herzegovina, Croatia and Serbia to bolster capacity in
key areas, including prosecutorial analysis and legal
research. National institutions had identified the provision
of additional support staff as a fundamental need for
dealing effectively with complex war crimes cases. The
project placed these personnel within existing institutional
structures as full-fledged staff members, responsible
directly to the hosting institutions. Training and support
were provided throughout the life of the project so as to
promote the retention of these staff after its closure. In
Serbia, for example, the majority of these personnel will be
retained by justice institutions, underlining that a genuine
need has been addressed.
“Such a comprehensive and updateable training curriculum,
with a wealth of examples from ICTY and domestic
jurisprudence, is something that was missing in the
practitioners’ legal training in the region. The curriculum has
already helped me greatly in the preparation of training I
recently delivered to my junior colleagues.”
“The support staff have been assisting us in tasks related
to war crimes cases. Their analysis of the current state
of play in the domestic prosecution of war crimes cases,
collection of data and communication with NGOs in Croatia
has greatly improved the work of the Ministry.”
Judge Siniša Važić, Vice-President of the War Crimes Department of the
Belgrade Appellate Court
Kristijan Turkalj, Ministry of Justice of Croatia
The training and e-learning portal developed by UNICRI
provides legal practitioners and judicial and prosecutorial
training institutions in the region with much-needed online
access to war crimes-related information. This includes
a range of databases and tools, as well as an e-learning
course on international criminal law and practice, based on
the training curriculum. It can be accessed at:
http://wcjp.unicri.it/
The War Crimes Justice Project has assisted national
authorities in strengthening capacity in their jurisdictions
to handle war crimes trials in an effective and fair manner,
consistent with the highest international standards of due
process. Maintaining a full commitment to local ownership
throughout the process, the project has ensured that
national judiciaries have ready access to relevant ICTY
materials in their own languages and has developed
materials, platforms and capacity for effective local
ownership and management of national training agendas,
and enhanced processing of war crimes cases.
Professional development
The project included a range of regional and national
activities, such as peer-to-peer meetings and working
visits, designed to facilitate the professional development
of legal professionals working on war crimes cases in the
region. Training was also provided on specific topics of
international criminal law, the use of analytical tools and
working with vulnerable witnesses. Advanced training
was provided on specific topics of international criminal
law. Over 800 justice professionals participated in project
training events.
“The transfer of knowledge and exchange of experience
among prosecutors working on war crimes cases is very
important for us. Regional peer-to-peer meetings organized
by the WCJP are contributing to the valuable exchange of
experience among the region’s prosecutors and between
the region’s prosecutors and our colleagues from the ICTY.
These meetings are not just forums for discussion of legal
issues, but a means to strengthen co-operation with our
colleagues in the entire region.”
“I am very pleased that the European Union has supported
the War Crimes Justice Project. The development of
justice systems in the countries of the Western Balkans
in accordance with accepted rule of law standards and
the ability of those systems to effectively address their
war crimes case loads are among key objectives in the
European integration process. By funding this major
project, the European Union supports the war-affected
states in the region in advancing in this process.”
Štefan Füle, EU Commissioner for Enlargement and Neighbourhood Policy
War Crimes Justice Project
OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights
ul. Miodowa 10, 00-251 Warsaw, Poland
Tel: +48 22 520 06 00
Fax: +48 22 52006 05
Mail: wcjp@odihr.pl
Ibro Bulić, Prosecutor of the Prosecutor’s Office of Bosnia
and Herzegovina
osce.org/odihr
icty.org
unicri.it