On May 19th, the International Criminal Bar (ICB) held a training course that was attended by members of the International Criminal Court (ICC), the Commission of International Criminal Law of the Barcelona Bar, and international lawyers. The interactive training, entitled ‘What do Lawyers Expect from the ICC’, took place in our partners’ premises of the Den Haag Orde Van Advocaten, that very kindly made necessary preparations together with the Nederlandse Orde Van Advocaten.
First of all, we held a breakfast together with Dutch lawyers and jurists from both hosting institutions, and delegates of the ICC and Barcelona Bar. The breakfast provided by the Orde Van Advocaten was an excellent chance for informal discussions, presentations and networking.
This training course facilitated by our members of the Secretariat in Barcelona, and coordinated by our executive team in the Hague, was introduced by Mr. Esteban Peralta Losilla, who, in an interactive manner, explained all the necessary elements that practising as a lawyer in the ICC entails, the procedure and practicalities of the application to be admitted as listed counsel of the Court, and numerous considerations of the institution, location, cases and their defense teams, as well as legal approaches to the procedure and norms of the Court.
Afterwards, Ms. Dignité Bwiza, ICB’s Coordinator for Africa, explained the different cases that her continent is managing, and especially challenges with regard to prosecution, gathering of evidence and management of witnesses, as well as the challenges and constraints that different languages, some unwritten, cause to the proceedings of the Court. She also discussed with participants current projects in Africa of the ICB, especially relating to the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Central African Republic, Ivory Coast and Mali.
This conference was concluded by an interactive dialogue with all attendants which was an excellent opportunity to clarify doubts and request additional details.
Art. by Roger Lloret Blackburn