ICTY Conducts Training Session for Bosnian Legal Professionals

The Hague, 16 June 2011
VE/MOW/1419e

ICTY Conducts Training Session for Bosnian Legal Professionals

 

Today, the Tribunal began a two-day training session with legal professionals from the cantonal prosecutor’s offices in Široki Brijeg, Mostar, Trebinje, Goražde and Sarajevo as well as legal staff from Brčko District, the Court of BiH and the Office of the Prosecutor of BiH, as part of the War Crimes Justice Project (WCJP).

The goal of the training, which is taking place at the Centre for Judicial and Prosecutorial Training of the Federation of BiH (CEST) in Sarajevo, is to share the Tribunal’s institutional knowledge and specialised skills with jurisdictions in the region as a means of enhancing their capacity to handle complex war crimes cases.

The training is intended to strengthen the ability of the Tribunal’s local counterparts to locate and research ICTY information and materials relevant to their work. The training session will cover the use of electronic research tools such as the website, the ICTY Court Records Database and the Appeals Chambers Case Law Research Tool. It will also cover making requests to the ICTY for legal assistance and for variation of protective measures under the Tribunal’s Rules of Procedure and Evidence.

Commenting on the training session, Christopher Engels, the WCJP Regional Coordinator, said: “Those working on war crimes cases in the region face many challenges, from political pressure to a lack of support staff and funding. These challenges coupled with the complex nature of war crimes cases, make the work of these legal professionals extremely difficult.”

Engels added that “In responding to our local counterparts’ request for hands-on ICTY research training, our partners at the ICTY have addressed a real and urgent need. These trainings exemplify the practical ways in which we can support the hard work of the region’s justice actors in their continued efforts to fairly and efficiently process war crimes cases.”

This is the third set of training sessions to be held in Sarajevo as part of the WCJP. A series of similar training for Bosnian legal professionals also took place in Banja Luka in March and May 2011. Since the launch of the WCJP in July 2010, the Tribunal has conducted a total of 25 training sessions for over 120 legal professionals from Croatia, Serbia, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Montenegro and Kosovo.

The War Crimes Justice Project is a 4-million euro regional project funded by the European Union and carried out by the Organization for Security and Co-operation in Europe/Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (OSCE/ODIHR) in partnership with the ICTY, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute (UNICRI) and OSCE field operations.

War Crimes Justice Project Partners
This project is funded by the European Union	Implemented by: