Serbian court and prosecution staff receives humanitarian law training under ODHIR-led War Crimes Justice Project

BELGRADE, 6 July 2011 - Staff from the Serbian High Court, the Court of Appeal and the Office of the War Crimes Prosecutor completed today a three-day training course on international humanitarian law. The training was held as part of the War Crimes Justice Project which is led by the OSCE Office for Democratic Institutions and Human Rights (ODIHR).

The training course, which took place at Belgrade’s Judicial Academy, was based on a new tailor-made curriculum developed by the War Crimes Justice Project. It was delivered by two judges of the Appeals Court, Siniša Važić and Miodrag Majić, as well as Legal Officers of the OSCE Mission to Serbia, Ivan Jovanović and Ana Petrović.

“The need for a comprehensive jurisdiction-tailored humanitarian law curriculum was identified during the research phase of the project, and the OSCE Mission has helped to develop and implement the curriculum in practice. Specific knowledge of international norms applicable in armed conflict is the basis for effective war crimes prosecution,” said Ivan Jovanović, the Head of the War Crimes Unit at the OSCE Mission to Serbia.

ODIHR Project Co-ordinator Robert Adams added: “Investing in the training of the younger generation of lawyers is an important focus of the project. By providing the curriculum to the Serbian Judicial Academy for use in its permanent training programmes, ODIHR is helping to sustain high-quality education in this area even after the project is concluded.”

The War Crimes Justice Project developed the curriculum with the help of national and international experts, based on requests for humanitarian law training tailored to the needs of national practitioners. It will be provided to the Judicial Academy for use in its regular programmes. The curriculum covers topics ranging from war crimes and procedural rules to specific issues like witness protection.

The War Crimes Justice Project is a four-million euro regional project funded by the European Union and carried out by ODIHR in partnership with the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the UN Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute and OSCE field operations. The aim of the project is to enhance the capacity of legal professionals in the region in processing complex war crimes cases.

This project is funded by the European Union

For more information please call Sanela Tunovic, War Crimes Justice Project Outreach Officer at ++387 61 539 535 or email at wcjp@odihr.pl.