NPWJ International Criminal Law Colloquium Series starts in Tripoli

Tripoli, 29 September 2012

No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ) starts a new series of colloquiums on international criminal law on Saturday, 29 September 2012, with an inaugural session on the principle of legality, according to which acts that were not criminal offences at the time they took place cannot be punished through criminal law. The participants of the colloquium include legal and academic community, as well as civil society organisations working on Transitional Justice.

This first colloquium and activities organised under the NPWJ’s Libya Program, is aimed at generating debate and discussion within legal and academic communities, raising awareness and increasing knowledge on international criminal justice issues in Libya in the aftermath of the Gaddafi regime.

Given that the National Transitional Council indicated in its filing before the ICC on 1 May 2012 that it was considering the adoption of a draft Decree that formally incorporates into Libyan national law international crimes, the colloquium brings in an opportunity to elaborate the concept of principle of legality in depth. The participants of the colloquium will discuss how Libya should enshrine the principle of legality in its law while ensuring it can bring perpetrators of serious crimes to justice.

NPWJ has been working on the Libyan transition since early 2011, with its program entitled “Supporting Libya’s Democratic Transition through Justice and Accountability.” Earlier, from 26 to 28 May 2012, NPWJ upon the invitation of the Libyan Ministry of Justice, and in close cooperation with their Higher Judicial Training Institute, held the first in a series of practical trainings on special investigations and analysis designed specifically for Libyan prosecutors and investigators engaged in their country’s ongoing transitional justice process. NPWJ has also held a series of meetings and workshops with civil society and government in Benghazi, Misurata and Tripoli to generate discussion on the needs and perceptions within Libya about its transitional justice process, also to develop ways to reach out to victims and the broader community on these issues.