COURSE: International Criminal Law

ISISC’s 13th Specialization Course in International Criminal Law

 

The International Institute of Higher Studies in Criminal Sciences (ISISC) presents its 13th Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists, which will take place on May 19th-29th, 2013 in Siracusa, Italy.

 

Since 1972, ISISC has worked on international initiatives towards the advancement of human rights and rule of law in the world. Forty years later, the Institute continues to be at the forefront of contemporary human rights research, capacity building and advocacy. Furthermore, ISISC is particularly committed to the advancement and development of the next generation of human rights advocates through its specialization courses in legal doctrine and international criminal law.

 

One of the signature and most prominent activities ISISC organizes is the ICL Course, hosted annually at the Institute’s headquarters in Siracusa. This year’s course will address “The Future of International Criminal Law in the Era of Globalization”, and will take place from May 19th until May 29th.

 

The courses that have taken place in the past were attended by 627 young professionals cumulatively from 88 countries spanning five continents. The Course gathers around 90 of the brightest young scholars from across the globe, including recent law graduates, practitioners, academics and students, pursuing higher education or careers in the fields of international criminal law and international relations. ISISC’s President, Professor M. Cherif Bassiouni chairs and coordinates the course every year, assuring the highest quality of education administered by some of the most erudite academics and researchers in the field of international criminal law. This year’s instructors include Professor Mohamed Y. Mattar, Senior Research Professor of International Law and Executive Director of The Protection Project, The Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (USA); Professor William Schabas, Chairman of the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland, and Professor of International Law at the Middlesex University, London (UK); Professor Diane Marie Amann, Emily and Ernest Woodruff Chair in International Law at the University of Georgia School of Law, and Special Adviser on Children in and affected by Armed Conflict, International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor; Professor André Klip, Professor of Criminal Law, Criminal Procedure and Transnational Criminal Law at Maastricht University; and Professor Leila Nadya Sadat, Henry H. Oberschelp Professor of Law and Director of the Whitney R. Harris World Law Institute, Washington University School of Law, and Special Adviser on Crimes Against Humanity, International Criminal Court, Office of the Prosecutor, among a number of other distinguished professors and academics, for a total of 24 lecturers.

 

The Specialization Course consists of two components, which include daily lecture sessions followed by a practical workshop. In due course, all participants will have attended 14 working sessions for a total of 42 actual academic contact hours. This year's lectures will comprise the following topics:

• Assessing the Historic Evolution of ICL: Norms and Enforcement -Effectiveness of the Direct and Indirect Systems
• The Changing Boundaries of International Law, the Constitutive Order of International Decision-Making Processes and their Value-Oriented Goals
• Assessing International Human Rights Mechanisms: Fact Finding Bodies, Special Procedures and their Contribution to International Criminal Justice
• Assessing the Direct and Mixed Enforcement Models: ICTY, ICTR, ICC and Mixed Model Tribunals
• The Indirect Enforcement System: National Legislative Developments and International Cooperation in Penal Matters
• National Prosecutions of International and Transnational Crimes
• Inter-State Cooperation in Enforcing International and Transnational Crimes: Vertical and Horizontal Relations
• The Emerging Role of Non-State Actors in Domestic and Regional Armed Conflict and Related Transnational Crimes
• The Impact of Globalization on the Future of International Criminal Justice

The course culminates with a practical workshop that will last several days, in which participants will be divided into four groups. The groups will meet separately to discuss the issue they were assigned. A Chair and a Rapporteur will be selected by each group. The four working groups will then draft a report reflecting their conclusions and recommendations and will present it to the audience on the last day of the course. At the end of the course all participants will be delivered a certificate of participation for the course.

 

The ICL course – which is sponsored by the Johns Hopkins University, School of Advanced International Studies (USA), the University of Palermo, Faculty of Law (Italy), the Middlesex University Department of Law (London, UK), the Irish Centre for Human Rights, National University of Ireland (Galway, Ireland), and the Association Internationale de Droit Pénal (AIDP - France) – has evolved into one of ISISC’s most rewarding and successful events over the years.

 

For more information on the course, please visit ISISC website at www.isisc.org