Valpovo, 2 February 2015
ICTY Outreach Programme continued its support to the “Model International Criminal Court – Western Balkans” by participating in the project’s final event held in Valpovo, Croatia.
ICTY Registry Liaison Officer in BiH, Almir Alić, held a two-hour interactive presentation to introduce a group of around 30 high school students from Belgrade, Šibenik, Čakovec, Ljubuški and Mostar to the Tribunal’s work and achievements. The presentation proved an excellent introduction into the event’s next session which involved staging mock-trials using jurisprudence from the ICTY, ICTR and the Nuremberg Tribunal.
“The presentation helped me understand the structure of the Tribunal and learn about different functions of its separate organs. Since I had the role of a prosecutor in one of the mock-trials, it was much easier for me to prepare following this presentation”, said Zdravka, a student from Ljubuški following the presentation.
In addition to exploring the roles of different parties in a trial, the students from the region were keen to learn more about the rights of the accused to a fair trial and due process. They were also interested in how the crime of genocide committed in Srebrenica was defined by the Tribunal.
Almir Alić shared positive experiences that the Outreach Programme has had in its work with young people with the teachers from the five towns listed above. He also spoke about the current work of the Tribunal and the role of war crimes trials in transitional justice processes in the region.
The ‘Model International Criminal Court’ is a regional project supported by Open Communications (Serbia), Foundation Humanity in Action (BiH) and HERMES (Croatia). The Valpovo session was the last in a series of six five-day regional sessions set up to simulate the work of international tribunals.