As part of the international initiative to develop a Justice Rapid Response (JRR) mechanism, No Peace Without Justice as the Interim JRR Secretariat in close cooperation with the JRR Coordinating Group, is conducting a JRR Certification Course for experts on 11-14 September 2009, in Brussels, with financial support from the governments of Canada and Finland and the European Union
The purpose of the meeting is to certify for inclusion on the JRR Roster experts who are already fully trained for international criminal justice-related deployment. The experts will learn how to apply their expertise to JRR situations, after which they can be added to the JRR roster, helping to make JRR fully operational as soon as possible.
The course will be attended by fifteen experts in various aspects of international criminal investigations coming from 11 countries (Afghanistan, Canada, Israel, Kenya, Russia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Tanzania, UK, USA), including representatives from the Afghanistan Independent Human Rights Commission (AIHRC), the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Kenya National Commission on Human Rights (KNCHR), the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).
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.
In order to facilitate cooperation of partners in the JRR mechanism, No Peace Without Justice is acting as the Interim JRR Secretariat until modalities for coordination are further developed among the JRR participants or an international organisation may be in a position to take over the coordination and implementation of the JRR mechanism.
For further information, contact Alison Smith on asmith@npwj.org or +32-486-986 235 or Nicola Giovannini on ngiovannini@npwj.org or +32-2-548-3913.
Program of the Certification Course
