The 2026 edition marked the return of the Nuremberg Summer Academy for Young Professionals, Anglophone edition, to an in-person programme in Nuremberg for the first time since 2019. This flagship programme reflects a central reality of contemporary international criminal justice: while international courts remain essential, much of the responsibility for investigating and prosecuting international crimes rests with national justice systems.
The Nuremberg Summer Academy aims to strengthen national capacities to investigate, prosecute and adjudicate international crimes by bringing together young lawyers, prosecutors, judges, academics and other legal professionals from conflict and post-conflict countries. The programme deepens participants’ understanding of substantive and procedural aspects of international criminal law while creating space for practical exchange across jurisdictions. This year’s course brought together 19 participants from Argentina, Cambodia, Ethiopia, The Gambia, Georgia, India, Iraq, Kenya, Mexico, Nepal, the Netherlands, Syria, Uganda and Ukraine. The diversity of the cohort made peer exchange an important part of the learning process, allowing participants to compare how similar accountability challenges arise within very different national legal and institutional contexts.
Conducted for the first time in a hybrid format, the programme began with a three-month, self-paced online course that provided participants with foundational knowledge in international criminal law. The in-person programme then shifted focus and placed participants in the role of practitioners confronting the different stages and perspectives of an international criminal case. Through case studies, group exercises and simulations, they examined how allegations of international crimes are translated into prosecutorial strategies, how defence counsel challenge those strategies and safeguard fair-trial guarantees, how the rights and needs of victims are addressed and how international cooperation and domestic legal frameworks shape the prospects for accountability. The week culminated in a mock trial in which participants drew together the substantive, evidentiary and procedural issues explored throughout the programme, testing legal arguments from different courtroom perspectives.
This year’s experts included:
- Dr Viviane Dittrich, Nuremberg Academy, who gave a keynote speech on Current Challenges in International Criminal Justice
- Robert Petit, International, Impartial and Independent Mechanism for Syria, on Building a Prosecution Case, Investigating and Prosecuting International Crimes
- Marie O’Leary, formerly, International Criminal Court, on Building a Defence Case and the Protection of Fair Trial Rights
- Megan Hirst, Doughty Street Chambers, on Protection of the Victims’ Rights
- Julie Dubé-Gagnon, Global Rights Compliance, on Investigating and Prosecuting Sexual and Gender-Based Violence and Crimes against Children
- Richard Nsanzabaganwa, International Criminal Court, on International Cooperation and Assistance
- Dr Ines Peterson, Office of the German Federal Public Prosecutor General, on Prosecuting International Crimes in Germany
Throughout the in-person week, participants connected contemporary challenges in international criminal justice with their historical foundations through visits to the Memorium Nuremberg Trials and its historic Courtroom 600, the Dachau Concentration Camp Site Memorial as well as the Documentation Center Nazi Party Rally Grounds. These visits placed contemporary discussions on accountability in their historical context, inviting participants to reflect on the development of international criminal justice from the post-war trials in Nuremberg to the legal and institutional frameworks in which they work today.
As the week drew to a close, one message resonated across sessions, exercises and informal exchanges: the future of international criminal justice increasingly depends on strong domestic jurisdictions. This reflects a fundamental premise of the Rome Statute system, under which the ICC is complementary to national criminal jurisdictions, with States retaining primary responsibility for investigating and prosecuting international crimes. Strengthening the knowledge, skills and networks of national practitioners is therefore not peripheral to international criminal justice; it is central to making accountability work in practice. This year’s cohort reflected that reality, with 19 legal professionals returning to their respective jurisdictions equipped not only with a deeper understanding of international criminal law, but also with a network of peers confronting similar challenges and pursuing shared goals.
Applications for next year’s edition of the Summer Academy will open in December. Further information on the application process and upcoming programme will be shared on the Academy’s website and social media channels. For more information on the Nuremberg Summer Academy, please see here. (ec/ds)
