• Date and time: every Wednesday at 17:00 Kyiv time, starting from April 26, 2023. Duration – 7 training sessions of 1 hour each.

• Format: online (ZOOM platform).

• The language of the event is English.

This course taught by Professor David M. Crane, founding Chief Prosecutor of the UN Special Court for Sierra Leone, focuses on the practice of modern international criminal law, which finds its origins in the principles laid down at the International Military Tribunal at Nuremberg. These principles, law, and procedures were cast aside and almost forgotten during the Cold War only to be resurrected after the fall of the Berlin Wall and the advent of the Balkan tragedy in the early 1990s. From this conflict, we see the creation of various ad hoc tribunals in Yugoslavia, Rwanda, Sierra Leone, and hybrids such as in East Timor and Cambodia, and the flourishing of new jurisprudence, rules, and procedure, which were further codified with the establishment of the new permanent International Criminal Court. Now after more than two decades, the law and procedure are starting to settle and the practice of international criminal law is showing signs of standardization. Yet in 2023, despite all of these advances, the international community is stepping away from atrocity accountability in an Age of the Strongman and is faced with the aggression by the Russian Federation on Ukraine. 2023 is a seminal year in using the rule of law to restore international peace and security. This course will show how this can be done by the one person who has done it before in West Africa.

Provisional agenda:

April 26, 2023: A History of International Criminal Law. International Crimes

• Topics to be discussed:  A general overview of international humanitarian law and the growth of the legal discipline of modern international criminal law.

May 3, 2023: Human Rights Overview. The indicators of atrocity – the dark corners of the world

• Topics to be discussed: The concept of how human rights are enforced globally and how practitioners look for areas of possible atrocity crimes.

May 10, 2023: Creating a tribunal/court. Considerations as to prosecutorial strategy

• Topics to be discussed: The four corners of how and why the international community considers using an international justice mechanism to account for atrocity; how a prosecutor creates a process of investigating, indicting, and prosecuting those who commit international crimes.

May 17, 2023: Investigating an atrocity.

• Topics to be discussed:  The practical considerations of building and executing and investigations plan in support of the prosecutors strategy.

May 24, 2023:  Indictment drafting and motion practice.

• Topics to be discussed:  What are the legal tools that work best in creating the legal instruments to hold individuals accountable for international crimes in a fair and open process.

May 31, 2023: Prosecution: Procedure and evidence – proving the case.

• Topics to be discussed:  The practical methods in securing a conviction beyond a reasonable doubt.

June 7, 2023:  Practical considerations of setting up a special tribunal for Ukraine on the crime of aggression – the way ahead.

• Topics to be discussed: The steps needed to create and appropriate justice mechanism to hold Vladimir Putin and his senior political and military leadership accountable for the aggression perpetrated by the Russian Federation against Ukraine.

Related material and suggested reading:

• The Founders. Four Pioneering Individuals Who Launched the First Modern-Era International Criminal Tribunals, David M. Crane, Leila N. Sadat & Michael P. Scharf (eds.), Cambridge University Press 2018.
• Russian War Crimes Against Ukraine: The Breach of International Law by the Russian Federation.
• Considerations of Setting Up a Special Tribunal for Ukraine on the Crime of Aggression
• Proposal to Create a Special Tribunal for Ukraine on the Crime of Aggression

See also other publications by the Global Accountability Network at https://www.globalaccountabilitynetwork.org/publications.

Pre-REGISTRATION is MANDATORY to participate in the event.
The number of listeners is limited. Preference is given to members of the Ukrainian Bar Association.

* A link to join the webinar will be sent to your e-mail address.

Please note that participants who have attended at least 5 pieces of training will receive an electronic personal certificate based on the course results.

Participation in the event is free, but you can support the institutional activities of UBA as a DONATION.

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For additional information about the event, contact: +38 (096) 742-71-07 (WhatsApp, Telegram) or write to: kpyshchyk@uba.ua. Contact person - Kateryna Pyshchyk.