CAPACITY BUILDING

TEAM BACKGROUND

Capacity Building, as a strategy, forms the backbone of most of the CAJPHR‘s initiatives as it revolves around peace, justice and human rights. The Capacity Building in International Criminal Law Programme (CB)  concentrates the employment of this strategy to positively and constructively engage and involve stakeholders in Africa in International Law. 

The Capacity Building mission is to provide actors across Africa with the tools, knowledge and skills needed to help create a conflict-free Africa, built on principles of justice, accountability, rule of law and respect for Human Rights. This department aims to provide these tools to legal professionals and law students, capacitating them in International Criminal Law, enabling them to investigate and execute justice. 

Misconceptions and misinformation can be dangerous. As a response to this lack of understanding, we developed two approaches to decrease the existing stigma. In both approaches, we truly believe that by familiarising lawyers, judges, prosecutors, any interested legal professional, and also national and international students, we are helping them develop important legal skills that will help to put an end to the existing culture of impunity. However, a variety of important skills and tools will not be forgotten. Through interactive workshops and lectures, we will encourage dialogue and increase our attendees debating and augmenting skills.

International to Domestic Approach: 

This approach consists of accompanying International Criminal Law experts from the Netherlands to African countries, where we will be holding seminars, workshops, lectures and other kinds of sessions. Starting with in the west african region, and continuing to other African countries afterwards, we aim to bring the right information to the right people, capable of implementing the core concepts of International Criminal Law in their countries, allowing them the tools to domesticate International Criminal Law in their national jurisdiction. At present, we have already began negotiating the execution  of CB workshops with few West African States and invite International law stakeholders in other States to reach out to us for potential collaboration.

Domestic to International Approach:

To provide practical experience in International Criminal Law, we host legal experts and other professionals, of whom wish to ensure legal accountability. Through these working visits for legal professionals from domestic jurisdiction and study visits for law students and researchers from domestic jurisdiction, legal experts from domestic jurisdictions get the chance of having a practical experience of the international criminal justice system in the Hague. They visit courts, attend proceedings and interact with their international counterpart.

Hence, introducing them to a global network in this field will allow everyone to exchange perspectives and practices, learning from each other.

 

OUR VISION

Our Vision is to help create a conflict-free Africa built on the principles of justice, accountability, the rule of law and respect for human rights.

OUR MISSION

Our Mission is to provide actors across Africa with the resources, knowledge, skills, and networks that create sustainable solutions against criminal impunity, that address injustices, and that remedy the infringement of human rights across the continent.

GOALS

Long-term Goal

To enable and empower criminal justice actors and stakeholders in Africa to investigate and prosecute violations of international criminal and humanitarian law within the domestic jurisdictions. Through working visits for legal professionals from domestic jurisdiction and study visits for law students and researchers from domestic jurisdiction, legal experts from domestic jurisdictions get the chance of having a practical experience of the international criminal justice system in the Hague. They visit courts, attend proceedings and interact with their international counterparts.

Short-term Goal (2020)

  • To engage stakeholders and establish foundational partnerships in the Programme countries in Africa, in the Netherlands and in Europe.
  • To activate the pilot phase (one-year period) of the programme in our first Programme Country: Nigeria.

FUTURE PLANS

The CB programme strategy contains three components:

  1. Targeted training and study visits, in Programme Countries in Africa and the Hague, for international law students, prosecutors and other legal professionals,
  2. Creation of networking solutions and exchange platforms for the Programme’s’ participants, and relevant stakeholders
  3. Knowledge production, through in-house research projects, publications, and video content about international criminal law