The IAP Secretary-General announces the cancellation of the 2021 IAP Annual Conference due to COVID-19
3/16/2021
The Tbilisi Annual Conference will be postponed to 2022.
To all IAP Members,
With this message, the IAP Secretariat will update you about the 2021 Annual Conference and General Meeting in Tbilisi, Georgia.
Of course, at the background it is the - it seems - everlasting story of the Covid-19 pandemic that plays the lead role. The slower the end of the pandemic is nearing, the more it effects our events. Clearly, the very limited possibilities, even more, the impossibility to travel due to strict governmental travel bans or advice and, of course, of your own accord, shadows the future.
Already for months, the Secretariat and the Georgian host were in close contact about possible Covid-19 related consequences for the Annual Conference, resulting in several possible scenarios. Based on those scenarios and taking into account the uncertain worldwide situation regarding the pandemic and therefor the high level of uncertainty and the high risks, together with the strong wish of the IAP and the host to organise an eye-catching event on the IAP world stage, the Executive Committee decided to cancel the 2021 Annual Conference in Tbilisi, Georgia. At the same time, the Executive Committee accepted the bid from the Georgian General Prosecutor to host the 27th Annual Conference and General Meeting in September 2022 in Tbilisi, Georgia.
The cancellation of the 2021 Annual Conference also effects the 2021 General Meeting. You will be aware that by the Constitution, the IAP is obliged to organise a General Meeting every year, to give the membership the possibility to control the work of the Executive Committee and the Secretariat. With the 2021 Annual cancelled, the Secretariat will explore the possibilities to organise the 2021 General Meeting, most likely this autumn, adjoining the 52nd meeting of the Executive Committee. The 2021 General Meeting will be a hybrid meeting under all circumstances, perhaps even a full digital event. The Secretariat will inform you about the 2021 General Meeting as soon as a date is set by the Executive Committee.
You will feel the need, the same as the Secretariat does, to reconnect to your fellow IAP members as soon as possible, online and in person. In 2021, the Secretariat will do its utmost to organise more webinars and other electronic events, while the Secretariat is considering organising one or two Regional Conferences this autumn. Might you be interested in hosting an IAP Regional Conference, please contact our Executive Director, Ms. Janne Holst Hübner at ED@iap-association.org.
Wishing you a Covid-19-free year!
Han Moraal
Secretary General of the International Association of Prosecutors