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10th Regional Conference - 2010

Date: Wednesday 3 March 2010

Location: The Hague, the Netherlands

The Hague, the Netherlands 3 - 5 March 2010, 10th Regional Conference:
“War Crime - who's crime is it?”
Attendance: 57 participants from 18 countries.

  • Conference venue: The Hague, Netherlands
  • Conference period: 3 – 5 March 2010
  • Conference registration:
  • Download: Programme
  • Find conference speeches/documentation below

Conference title: War Crimes-whose crime is it?

‘It has been said that International Criminal Law or International Justice is ‘where law meets morality’. Whether we are speaking about genocide, torture, recruitment of child soldiers, or other crimes against humanity, nobody can argue that such crimes should  be ignored, and yet the ’the impunity gap’ is now widely recognised as a grim reality. But who has the responsibility to deal with these crimes in a post conflict situation?
The Nuremburg trials created a model which was adopted and adapted by the United Nations and special tribunals and courts have been created to deal with specific conflicts all over the world. Is this the answer? Are they effective? Do they represent value for money? What will be their legacy when they are decommissioned?
What about the increase in the exercise of ‘universal jurisdiction’? Should there be a nexus between the prosecutor and the prosecuted? Have some countries gone too far in the exercise of this jurisdiction? Have others not gone far enough? Are the prosecutors in these jurisdictions equipped to deal with these complex cases? What can we learn from the special tribunals?
What about sovereignty? Should we be leaving or supporting countries to deal with these matters within their own domestic courts? Does this smack of ‘Victor Justice’? is prosecution the only remedy and sanction? Where does the International Criminal Court [ICC] sit in all this?

Conference Reports, Feedback, Conclusions and Recommendations:

Thursday, 4 March 2010

Marc van Nimwegen, Member of the Board of Procurators General, Netherlands
Josip Cule, Deputy Attorney Genera of the Republic of Croatia and Head of International Legal Assistance and Cooperation Department. Josip Cule PowerPoint      
Raija Toiviainen –State Prosecutor, Finland
Dusan Knezevic, Deputy War Crimes Prosecutor, War Crimes Prosecutors Office of the Republic of Serbia  

Friday 5 March 2010

Hester van Bruggen – National Prosecution Office Department for International Crimes, the Netherlands
Amelie Zinzius- Deputy Director, Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section, Ottawa (Ontario),Canada
Christian Ranheim Programme director, ICC Legal Tools Programme Norwegian Centre for Human Rights, University of Oslo