31 January, The Hague

Sexual violence documentary launch

The Tribunal’s Outreach Programme organised the premiere of its feature-length documentary "Sexual Violence and the Triumph of Justice". The documentary depicts the Tribunal’s historic role in the prosecution and adjudication of wartime sexual violence and includes interviews with former and current senior staff members of the ICTY, as well as testimonies from witnesses and survivors of sexual violence, who bravely gave evidence at trials.

The screening was followed by a round table discussion. The panel was composed of the Director of the documentary, ICTY’s Senior Legal Adviser to the Prosecutor, Head of Support Unit of the ICTY’s Victims and Witnesses Section, and the Head of Gender and Children Unit at the ICC. The panellists spoke about the challenges of prosecuting crimes of sexual violence, the role of the ICC and local judiciaries in further combating impunity for these crimes, and the challenges of securing witness testimonies and providing them with the necessary support.

The premiere was organised by the ICTY's Outreach Programme

> some 100 guests, including diplomats, journalists, NGO representatives, and senior officials from international courts in The Hague

31 January, The Hague

Visit by Bosniaks living in the Netherlands

Outreach Programme hosted a group of Bosniaks, most of whom are survivors from Srebrenica, for a half a day visit to the Tribunal. The group was given an introduction on the work and achievements of the ICTY. An OTP representative elaborated on the establishment of the Tribunal and its mandate and provided some basic information on past and current cases, including some of the main obstacles of the investigations and prosecution. The group was also addressed by the spokesperson for Registry and Chambers who spoke about the selection of events to investigate and evidence to present the OTP was faced with in order to ensure that the trials do not exceed a reasonable amount of time. Overall, the visitors seemed to welcome this opportunity to engage in an exchange of views and were involved in the conversation. Many expressed their thanks and interest in returning and attending a hearing in the Mladić case.

IKV-Pax Christi

27 January, Niš, Serbia

Belgrade Human Rights Centre Debate in Niš

Belgrade Registry Liaison Officer (RLO) attended the first debate at Law Faculty in Niš delivering a speech on Tribunal’s achievements and the Residual Mechanism to a group of law students. Other speakers included Belgrade Human Rights Centre staff, a student representative and a representative of the War Crimes Prosecutor’s Office. A number of ICTY legacy books were distributed at the event.

This debate was organised by Belgrade Centre for Human Rights

25 January, Podgorica and Cetinje, Montenegro

Donation of legal material to Montenegro

The Tribunal’s Outreach Programme made a significant donation of international legal publications to Montenegro’s Ministry of Justice, Supreme Prosecutor’s office and Youth Initiative for Human Rights (YIHR) in Podgorica and the Montenegrin Central Library in Cetinje. The donation included copies of the ICTY’s Judicial Reports, the Commonwealth Law Reports, the Encyclopaedia of Modern Legal Systems as well as a number of publications of the European Court of Human Rights. The donations form part of the Tribunal’s commitment to promote respect for the rule of law and increase the access of students and legal practitioners in the region to educational resources in the field of international law.

This donation was organised by the ICTY's Outreach Programme

24 January, Zagreb, Croatia

Presentation on the prosecution of sexual violence before ICTY

Zagreb Outreach representatives delivered a presentation based on the Outreach sexual violence web feature to a group of students who participate in the Centre for Peace Studies interdisciplinary educational programme on human rights, facing the past issues and active participation in civic life – called “Education for Peace”. Also screened was the seven minute short version of the Sexual Violence documentary. During the Q&A session, the students asked numerous questions comparing local legislation and prosecution (or non-prosecution) of this type of crimes with the ICTY's jurisprudence, the introduction of innovative procedures, and landmark achievements in the prosecution of those crimes.  Many Outreach materials were also distributed. 

This presentation was organised by the ICTY's Outreach Programme

18 January, Zagreb, Croatia and The Hague

Video conference with international criminal law students

Zagreb Outreach, in cooperation with the Outreach in The Hague, conducted a video link conference with a group of 5th year students of the Zagreb University Law Faculty. Students assessed presentations by Judge Trechsel and Senior Trial Attorney Tom Hannis as extremely interesting and asked a number of questions. Judge Trechsel spoke about the topic of self-representation and Mr. Hannis spoke about some of the differences between the inquisitorial (civil law) versus adversarial (common law) systems. Information material was provided to the students.

Dr. Maja Munivrana Vajda, Assistant Professor of Criminal Law and International Criminal Law, Faculty of Law in Zagreb commented on the event: “The video-link conference organized by the ICTY Outreach Office in Zagreb was very interesting and useful both for my students and for me personally. It gave us the opportunity to learn from experience of international legal experts (ICTY Judge Trechsel and Senior Prosecuting Trial Attorney, Mr. Hannis). What I found particularly valuable was their openness to questions and willingness to share their personal opinion on various complicated problems of international criminal law.”

The video link presentation was organised by the ICTY's Outreach Programme

10 January, Zagreb, Croatia

Book donation to Zagreb Law Faculty

The Tribunal made a significant donation of legal material to the Law Faculty of Zagreb which included a large number of copies of the Yearbooks of the ICTY and the International Criminal Court, the Australian Review of International and European Law and the United States Code Annotated. Commenting on the book donation, Andrea Horić, Head of Zagreb University Law Faculty Library, said: “The Law Faculty Library is grateful for the donation of publications from the ICTY, which we believe will enhance the study of fundamental values of international humanitarian law by our users, including scientists, professors, students, and lawyers. We will improve our service related to topics of international law, criminal law and the rule of law, and facilitate the promotion of internationally recognised values and legal standards at our institution, within the wider community and at regional level, to which we are linked in various ways”.

This donation was organised by the ICTY's Outreach Programme