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Among other things, the Conference, which was organised by The Hague Tribunal, brought together leading academics, members of judicial institutions, states and civil society to explore the potentials of the Tribunal’s work on shaping the future of global justice and advancement of human rights.
In his opening address at the Conference, Patrick Robinson, President of the Hague Tribunal, mentioned the late judge Antonio Cassese, reminding the participants of his contribution to the development of international court practices and particularly the international criminal courts for war crimes in Rwanda, Sierra Leone, Cambodia and Lebanon.
Representatives of donor countries supporting the Tribunal’s work addressed the participants during the opening session. Jean-Marc Hoscheit, Ambassador of Luxembourg to the Netherlands, stressed the importance of the Tribunal’s legacy for achieving peace in the Balkans.
“The Tribunal has determined that there cannot be peace unless justice has been achieved. A Tribunal’s decision at the trial of a state president that set a precedent sent a message that nobody can avoid facing justice,” he said.
In their opening remarks Philippe Brandt, Minister, Embassy of Switzerland to the Netherlands, and Alison Cole, Legal Officer, International Justice, Open Society Justice Initiative, spoke about the Tribunal’s importance and contribution. Cole particularly stressed the importance of ICTY’s work and decisions in relation to treating sexual torture and rape as war crimes.
During four panel sessions the participants of the two-day Conference will discuss the impact of the International Tribunal’s jurisprudence on elucidation of customary international humanitarian law, the impact on the future of global justice and the advancement and enforcement of human rights, the interaction of common and civil law procedures in the work of the Tribunal and the Tribunal’s jurisprudential contribution to the clarification of the core crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.A.S.
