On 28 October 2020, the Nuremberg Academy and the Wayamo Foundation organised the second workshop of the international criminal law (ICL) course with a training-of-trainers (ToT) component in Abuja, Nigeria. It is a follow-up to the training held between 26 and 29 November 2019 in Abeokuta.
Due to Covid-19, this second workshop, initially planned for Summer 2020, had to be postponed to November. It was finally held in November as a hybrid format: some participants and experts were onsite, others participated online via Zoom. Members of the National Judicial Institute, the Nigerian Institute of Advanced Legal Studies, and the Nigerian military took part in the program.
The workshop started with opening remarks by Bettina Ambach, Wayamo Foundation Director - present in Abuja - and Natacha Bracq, Senior Officer for Training and Capacity Building at the Nuremberg Academy - via a pre-recorded video and Zoom. Following the remarks, two participants made presentations on the crime of genocide and the impact of the Covid-19 pandemic on access to justice and justice delivery in Nigeria. They received feedback from Dr. Philipp Ambach, Chief of the Victims Participation and Reparations Section at the International Criminal Court - via Zoom, Natacha Bracq, and Bettina Ambach.
During the afternoon, the training had to be separated in two due to internet issues. Participants in Abuja took part in a Train-the-Trainer refresher session, facilitated by Bettina Ambach, and watched two pre-recorded videos:
- “The preliminary examination in Nigeria”, by Claus Molitor, Situation Analyst, Office of the Prosecutor, International Criminal Court
- “The investigation and prosecution of sexual and gender-based violence”, by Sofia Coelho Candeias, Team of Experts: Rule of Law / Sexual Violence in Conflict, Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict
At the same time, participants in the online session listened and provided feedback to the presentation of a participant on the proposed African Court of Justice and Human Rights and its jurisdiction over international and transnational crimes.
This workshop is the last of a series of eight organised in partnership with the Wayamo Foundation in Nigeria since December 2016. With a view to ensuring the sustainability of the combined efforts, the scope of the capacity building program was expanded with a ToT component in 2019. The objective was to support and further equip participating institutions with the necessary skills and international criminal law knowledge to pass on to their network of relevant actors in Nigeria.