On 6 July 2026, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy hosted the first regional expert workshop in Nuremberg as part of the project “Establishing International Justice at Home: Practical Guidelines for the Setting Up and Functioning of National War Crimes Units.”
The closed-door workshop brought together senior practitioners and experts from prosecutorial authorities, investigative bodies, judicial institutions, international organisations, civil society and academia. Participants contributed practical experience from jurisdictions including Germany, the Netherlands, France, Sweden, Bosnia and Herzegovina, Ukraine, Armenia and Iraq/Kurdistan Region, as well as from international justice and cooperation mechanisms.
The workshop was designed as a practitioner consultation. Its objective was to identify concrete lessons for the establishment and functioning of national war crimes units and to support the development of practical international guidelines for states seeking to create or strengthen such specialised capacities.
Discussions focused on four central questions: when specialised war crimes units become necessary; how such units should be institutionally designed; what operational capacities are required for effective investigations; and how specialised units can be sustained over time.
The workshop confirmed that national war crimes units are not merely technical structures. They are central instruments for giving effect to complementarity, strengthening domestic accountability and ensuring that international crimes can be investigated and prosecuted where justice must ultimately take root: at the national level.
The insights gathered in Nuremberg will feed into the development of practical guidelines for the establishment and functioning of national war crimes units. Further regional consultations are planned in Asia, Africa and Latin America. (gp)