The overall objective of the project was to support the implementation of the EU Common Position on the International Criminal Court (ICC) by focusing on promoting the universality of the Rome Statute, implementing the principle of complementarity and enhancing public perception and awareness.
Main project objectives were:
- to reach the present decision makers of the target countries, and initiate co-operation between them;
- to strengthen the basis for networking and co-operation between the countries involved, by training of future decision makers;
- to design and implement a training programme to qualify multipliers selected from all target countries (civil society experts from NGOs, Universities, Law Institutes, Legal Academies etc.);
- to support and coach these multipliers to implement seminars, round-tables, lectures and PR-activities in their home countries;
- to elaborate specific (and easy to reproduce) training and information material in local languages;
- to raise awareness of the ICC among concerned field actors, in particular the armed forces and law-enforcement authorities;
- to enhance public perception and awareness of the ICC through local civil society representatives (incl. NGO, universities etc.) and local media;
- to accelerate the ratification and implementation process of the Rome Statute;
- to support legal experts in drafting implementing legislation, enabling national authorities to try suspects of international crimes before their own courts and ensuring an effective co-operation of national justice systems with the International Criminal Court.
Main project results achieved: 35 experts from the target countries trained at train-the-trainer in Germany/ The Hague; over 70 conferences, seminars, round-tables, lectures for over 2000 participants incl. government officials, military academies and military courts, universities, civil society representatives and media implemented in the target countries; compilation of an analysis of Criminal Codes in the target countries; over 2000 pages of information- and training material in local languages produced and used in various educational institutions; networking between governmental and educational institutions as well as NGOs initiated; public and media interest enhanced; several articles in press and radio/TV); new partnerships established (on local but also international level).