23rd Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists 'M. Cherif Bassiouni'
The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights will organize the 23rd Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists ‘M. Cherif Bassiouni’ on ‘International Criminal Law and Current Global Crises’ between Monday, May 27, and Saturday, June 1, 2024. The course will take place in presence at the headquarters of the Siracusa Institute, located in Siracusa, Italy; online participation will also be allowed. The final (oral) examination for the Diploma will take place exclusively online on Tuesday, June 4 and Wednesday, June 5. The course will consist of 12 daily sessions spread over six days, for a total of 32 contact hours. The daily sessions will consist of keynote lectures, panel discussions and small-group exercises, which aim to stimulate interaction among participants. The daily sessions will be programmed approximately between h. 9.30 and 17.30, CET. Each session will be broadcast live on a dedicated digital platform. In addition, during the course and for one week after the broadcast, participants will have access to video recordings of all daily sessions.
Once the course is completed, participants will have to take an online examination to receive the Diploma of the Siracusa International Institute. The examination will have a written and an oral component. Successful participants will be among the Institute’s graduates and eligible for a prize to be awarded to the person who achieves the best examination result, and two runners-up.
E-learning Programme 2023: International Law and Current Conflicts
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States observed in 2022 that her country had made the “civilisational choice,” to put its faith in international law and international institutions. But are international law and institutions up to the task? With the outbreak of a brutal war in Gaza, and the continuation of war in Ukraine and in the Sudan, just to name a few current conflicts, there is a worry that the international legal order is fraying beyond repair. International institutions were engaged in various aspects of the Ukraine conflict to an unprecedented degree. Is that model working? Can it be replicated in other cases? South Africa’s case against Israel in the International Court of Justice, and the referral of the Gaza situation to the ICC suggests that States are still hopeful that institutions matter. This short course will explore some of the many ways in which international law and institutions have been asked to address elements of global conflict including State responsibility, accountability for human rights abuses, individual criminal accountability, and economic concerns.
E-learning Programme 2023: Understanding Modes of Individual Criminal Responsibility
This course is dedicated to understanding modes of individual criminal responsibility in the context of international criminal litigation. This is a rich, complex, and often controversial area of international criminal law that is an absolutely critical component in securing accountability for international crimes. Establishing the nature of an accused participation in a criminal act beyond all reasonable doubt is the core task and responsibility of the prosecution. However, this task is replete with challenges unique to international crimes such as for example their often vast geographic and temporal scope, the remoteness of the accused from the scene of the crime(s), and the fact that international crimes are rarely if ever committed by a single person acting alone.
This course will bring together some of the leading scholars and practitioners on the subject of modes of individual criminal responsibility and will provide a firm understanding of the current state of the law while also reflecting on how challenges and controversies can be addressed and overcome. To this end, the course will open with a Keynote Lecture from Judge Christine van den Wyngaert former judge at the ICC, the ICTY, and Judge ad hoc at the ICJ, and currently judge at the Kosovo Specialist Chambers. Following this opening, the course will proceed to examine over six sessions topics such as forms of direct participation in international crimes, in-direct participation including aiding and abetting, the responsibility of superiors (military and civilian), inchoate forms of responsibility such as incitement, and finally the course will end with a session looking at the evidentiary challenges associated with proving modes of individual criminal responsibility.
E-learning Programme 2023: Digital Rights
The course will consider how the digital environment and human rights intersect and discuss the advancement of human rights in the digital age. It examines the challenges to the promotion and realisation of rights as it applies to the emergence of digital technologies, therefore, it discusses issues pertaining to human rights and their protection in the use of digital technologies. Transparency and accountability are central to the promotion of rights in the digital era; hence, the course also examines duties, responsibilities and accountability in relation to the realisation of digital rights. Participants in the course will gain advanced specialist knowledge of contemporary human rights challenges, liabilities and accountability regimes across a range of digital environments. Participants will also gain critical awareness of the contemporary debates relating to human rights duties and responsibilities that arise in relation to digital technologies.
E-learning Programme 2023: International Criminal Evidence
The course will examine how international courts prove the most serious international crimes. It aims to provide a thorough analysis of law and procedure relating to evidence and proof in international criminal trials, from Nuremberg through to the ad hoc international criminal tribunals, to international and hybrid tribunals today. The course will explore key concepts such as the burden and standard of proof; witness protection; the evaluation of evidence, and the standard of review on appeal. It will examine new developments in the law and practice of the International Criminal Court, such as the turn towards a ‘submission model’ for the admission of evidence and recent jurisprudence on witness proofing.
22nd Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists 'M. Cherif Bassiouni'
The
Siracusa International Institute for Criminal
Justice and Human Rights will organize the 22nd Specialization Course in
International Criminal Law for Young Penalists on ‘75 Years: The Universal
Declaration of Human Rights and The Genocide Convention’ between Monday, June
12, and Saturday, June 17, 2023. The course will take place in presence at the
headquarters of the Siracusa Institute, located in Siracusa, Italy; online
participation will also be allowed. The final
examination for the Diploma will take place exclusively online on Wednesday,
June 21 and Thursday, June 22. The course
will consist of 12 daily sessions
spread over six days,
for a total of 32 contact hours. The daily
sessions will consist of keynote lectures, panel discussions and small-group
exercises, which aim to stimulate interaction among participants. The daily sessions
will be programmed approximately between h. 9.30 and 17.30, CET. Each session will be broadcast live on a dedicated digital platform. In addition, during the course and for
one week after the broadcast, participants will have access to video recordings of all daily sessions.
Once the course is completed, participants will have to take an online examination to receive the Diploma of the Siracusa International Institute. The examination will have a written and an oral component. Successful participants will be among the Institute’s graduates and eligible for a prize to be awarded to the person who achieves the best examination result, and two runners-up.
E-learning Programme: Decolonizing International Criminal Justice
Enduring critiques posit that international law is “white, Western and male”. The international criminal justice system has since its origins been questioned for its inability or unwillingness to consider the values and worldviews of non-Western cultures and societies into its legal and institutional frameworks. It has been mired in controversies and critiques on account of a perception that it operates on double standards, as victor’s justice or by perpetuating its colonial legacy. In recent times, some states, in particular from the African continent, have criticized the International Criminal Court (ICC) on the grounds of selectivity, a critique that continues as the investigations into Afghanistan or Palestine face opposition by powerful states. Similarly, the unprecedented support for the ICC investigation in Ukraine has raised questions about the inequalities and structural racism of international justice, as violations of international law of a similar scale that happen elsewhere do not attract the same response. This short course will discuss the inconsistencies and deficits of the discipline and practice of international criminal law, while also exploring its counter-hegemonic potential and identifying promising developments.
E-Learning Programme: International Law and the Conflict in Ukraine
Ukraine’s Ambassador to the United States recently observed that her country had made the “civilisational choice,” to put its faith in international law and international institutions. Indeed, international institutions have been engaged in various aspects of the Ukraine conflict to an unprecedented degree. This short course will explore some of the many ways in which international law and institutions have been asked to address elements of the conflict including State responsibility, accountability for human rights abuses, individual criminal accountability, and economic concerns. It will also ask whether international law and institutions have succeeded in Ukraine, and whether lessons learned in that conflict can translate to concrete action elsewhere.
E-learning Programme: Understanding Modes of Individual Criminal Responsibility
This course is dedicated to understanding modes of individual criminal responsibility in
the context of international criminal litigation. This is a rich, complex, and often
controversial area of international criminal law that is an absolutely critical
component in securing accountability for international crimes. Establishing the nature
of an accused participation in a criminal act beyond all reasonable doubt is the core
task and responsibility of the prosecution. However, this task is replete with challenges
unique to international crimes such as for example their often vast geographic and
temporal scope, the remoteness of the accused from the scene of the crime(s), and
the fact that international crimes are rarely if ever committed by a single person
acting alone.
This course will bring together some of the leading scholars and practitioners on the
subject of modes of individual criminal responsibility and will provide a firm
understanding of the current state of the law while also reflecting on how challenges
and controversies can be addressed and overcome. To this end, the course will open
with a Keynote Lecture from Judge Christine van den Wyngaert former judge at the
ICC, the ICTY, and Judge ad hoc at the ICJ, and currently judge at the Kosovo
Specialist Chambers. Following this opening, the course will proceed to examine over
six sessions topics such as forms of direct participation in international crimes, in-direct
participation including aiding and abetting, the responsibility of superiors (military and
civilian), inchoate forms of responsibility such as incitement, and finally the course will
end with a session looking at the evidentiary challenges associated with proving
modes of individual criminal responsibility
1st Summer School on Understanding and Combatting Corruption - A Global Perspective
The Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights will organize a Summer School on ‘Understanding and Combatting Corruption - A Global Perspective’, between Monday, July 18th and Friday, July 22nd. The Summer School will take place in presence at the headquarters of the Siracusa Institute, located in Siracusa, Italy. The Summer School will consist of 6 daily sessions spread over 5 days, for a total of 20 academic contact hours. The daily sessions will consist of a combination of presentations from experts and participants on the reading material which will be provided in advance to the Summer School; they will be programmed approximately between h. 9.30 and 13.00, CET. The afternoons will be dedicated to study groups, self-study and social activities; they will be programmed approximately between h. 14.30 and 17.30, CET.
E-Learning Programme: International Criminal Evidence
The course will examine how international courts prove the most serious
international crimes. It aims to provide a thorough analysis of law and
procedure relating to evidence and proof in international criminal trials, from
Nuremberg through to the ad hoc international criminal
tribunals, to international and hybrid tribunals today. The course will explore
key concepts such as the burden and standard of proof; witness protection; the
evaluation of evidence, and the standard of review on appeal. It will examine
new developments in the law and practice of the International Criminal Court,
such as the turn towards a ‘submission model’ for the admission of evidence and
recent jurisprudence on witness proofing. A closing roundtable will give
students the opportunity to consider how new technologies are changing the
landscape of fact-finding in international criminal justice.
E-Learning Programme: Genocide
The course will provide a thorough overview of the
international law applicable to the crime of genocide. It will review the
development of the crime, the history of the negotiations of the 1948
Convention and more recent developments such as incorporation of the crime in
the Rome Statute. The relationship with crimes against humanity will be
examined. The course will also consider the duty to prevent genocide and its
relationship with the responsibility to protect. The definition will be
examined in detail, including the specific intent, the protected groups and the
punishable acts. Other provisions of the Convention will also be examined. Use
of the term ‘genocide’ to deal with historic atrocities will be examined. The
analysis will rely largely upon case law of the ad hoc tribunals, the International Criminal Court and the
International Court of Justice. The course will also consider efforts to
enlarge the scope of the crime and debates about use of the term in a range of
situations, including Ukraine, Syria, Myanmar, Xinjiang (China), Ethiopia and
Sri Lanka. Participants in the course will gain a familiarisation with the main
controversies as well as with the major sources applicable to the crime, the
case law, the travaux préparatoires, and the secondary literature.
21st Specialization Course in International Criminal Law for Young Penalists
The
Siracusa International Institute for Criminal
Justice and Human Rights will organize the 21th Specialization Course in
International Criminal Law for Young Penalists on ‘The Changing Landscape
of International Justice’ between Monday, May 23, and Saturday, May 28, 2022.
The course will take place in presence at the headquarters of the Siracusa
Institute, located in Siracusa, Italy; online participation will also be
allowed. For those
participants interested in obtaining the Diploma, the examinations
will take place exclusively online on Tuesday, May 31 and Wednesday, June 1. The course
will consist of 11 daily sessions
spread over six days,
for a total of 29 contact hours. The daily
sessions will consist of keynote lectures, panel discussions and small-group
exercises, which aim to stimulate interaction among participants. The daily sessions
will be programmed approximately between h. 9.30 and 17.30, CET. Each session will be broadcast live on a dedicated digital platform. In addition, during the course and for
one week after the broadcast, participants will have access to video recordings of all daily sessions. Participants who want to
receive the Diploma of the Siracusa International Institute will have to take an online examination once the course is completed. The examination will have a written and an oral component. Successful
participants will be among the Institute’s graduates and eligible for a prize
to be awarded to the person who achieves the best examination result, and two
runners-up. Participants who choose not to take the final examination will
receive a certificate
of participation.
1st Doctoral Seminar - International Criminal Law, International Human Rights and International Humanitarian Law
The First annual doctoral seminar of the Siracusa International Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights will take place between October 20 and 22, 2021-. The seminar will provide an opportunity to doctoral researchers for networking with their colleagues and with senior academics, to gain experience in presenting research to a scholarly audience, and to acquire practical skills for their studies and future careers. They can expect substantive feedback on both their oral presentations and written work.
It will consist of presentations by doctoral candidates as well as sessions delivered by experts of both a practical and theoretical nature of relevance to post-graduate research and academic careers.
This seminar is addressed to doctoral researchers working in the areas on which the work and activities of the Siracusa Institute for Criminal Justice and Human Rights are focused, namely international criminal law, international human rights and law and international humanitarian law, as well as with human rights and criminal justice at the domestic level.
PhD candidates will present their researches at the seminar. Presentations will consist of a twenty-minute talk followed by ten to fifteen minutes of feedback from participating academics as well as peers. Appropriate publication by the Siracusa Institute is contemplated for better papers. Attendance and participation from doctoral candidates who do not present papers is welcomed and expected.
20th Specialization Course in International Criminal Law
To be eligible for the course, participants should have a university degree in law, or have otherwise conducted some studies in law, be 35 years of age or under, and be fluent in English. Provision may be made for auditors who do not fulfil the eligibility criteria. Furthermore, the Institute will offer a limited number of scholarships to applicants from Developing and Less Developed Countries.
To apply for the Course, please fill out the Online Application Form. The deadline for submitting your application is May 30, 2021. All registered participants will receive an acceptance letter in due course, with further information on technical details, methods of payment and relevant deadlines.