Accountability for leadership participation in universal crimes and the role of judges

CONFERENCE, BERGEN 23-24 APRIL 2014

Accountability for leadership participation in universal crimes and the role of judges

Venues: CMI/ Bergen Resource centre for International Development, Jekteviksbakken 31 and the Faculty of Law at the University of Bergen, Magnus Lagabøtes plass 1

Programme in PDF:

Universal Crimes Conference Bergen April 2014 programme

The main conference theme is how to understand and ensure accountability for heinous crimes linked to power structures in society – including core international crimes such as genocide and crimes against humanity – what we here call “universal crimes”.

The conference is jointly organised by the University of Bergen (Law Faculty) and the Chr. Michelsen Institute in collaboration with the Norwegian Judges’ Association, with support from the CMI-UoB Fund and NorLARNet.

Day 1 focuses on the legal preconditions for leadership accountability and prosecution before international criminal courts. Session I elaborates on the concept of universal crimes and on who are the most responsible for such crimes. Session II offers analysis and discussion from various perspectives on how judges of international courts apply international criminal law (modes of participation) to leaders indicted for universal crimes.

Day 2 focuses specifically on Latin America. Session III centres the discussion on jurisprudence and the challenges involved in the prosecution of leaders before domestic courts in various countries in the region. Guatemala and the issue of fundamental justice will receive special attention in Session IV. This session comprises a delegation of Guatemalan judges, lawyers and NGO Maya representatives, who have been involved in serious transitional justice trials (including the Rios Montt trial), and Guatemala’s newly established special femicide court.

Kindly note that participants are responsible for their own travel arrangements and hotel accommodation. We have reserved a limited number of rooms at Hotel Augustin close to Bergen centre at a special rate for conference participants. Please provide the name of the conference when you make your booking. The conference will provide lunches and snacks for all participants.

If you would like to participate, please contact our conference coordinator Mari Norbakk giving your name, profession, and institutional affiliation. For catering purposes, please indicate which sessions (I-IV) you would like to attend.

Wednesday 23 April
09.00-10.50	SESSION I: UNDERSTANDING UNIVERSAL CRIMES Venue: Bergen Resource Centre for International Development
09.00-09.30	Reception with coffee/tea.
09.30-09.40	Welcome to Justice Elin Skaar (Senior Researcher, Chr. Michelsen Institute (CMI))
09.40-10.50	What are Universal Crimes and who are the «Most Responsible»? A dialogue between Terje Einarsen (Professor of Law and Head of the Universal Crimes Project, University of Bergen) and Rob Currie (Associate Professor of Law and Director, Law and Technology Institute, Dalhousie University) Facilitator: Astri Suhrke (Senior Researcher, CMI)
10:50-11:15	Coffee break and change of venue
11.15-16.30	SESSION II: PROSECUTING LEADERSHIP CRIMES INTERNATIONALLY Venue: Auditorium, Law Faculty.
	Prosecuting Leaders before International Tribunals – An Empirical Overview Dr. Joseph Rikhof (Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Section, Canadian Department of Justice)
12.00-13.00	Lunch at the Law Faculty
13.00-13.30	Defining the Modes of Leadership Participation: Why does it Matter? Elies van Sliedregt (Professor of Criminal Law and Dean at the Faculty of Law, VU University Amsterdam)
13.30-14.00	Modes of Leadership Participation at the ICC – Some Recent Trends Justice Howard Morrison (Judge at the ICTY and the ICC)
14.00-14.15	Questions or comments to speakers
14.15-14.30	Coffee Break
14.30-15.00	Perpetration of Universal Crimes by Means through Power Structures and Command Responsibility Darryl Robinson (Associate Professor of Law, Queen’s University)
15.00-15.30	Leaderships and Joint Criminal Action: The Need for Combined Modes of Liability? Kai Ambos (Judge Landgericht and Professor of Law, University of Göttingen)
15.30-16.00	Observations and Comments Morten Bergsmo (Visiting Professor, Peking University Law School, and Director, CILRAP) and Erik Møse (Judge, European Court of Human Rights, former President of ICTR)
16.00-16.30	Open Floor for Comments and Debate
19.00	Dinner for Speakers and Invited Guests
Thursday 24 April
09.00-11.30	SESSION III: TRANSITIONAL JUSTICE IN LATIN AMERICA: PROSECUTING LEADERS FOR UNIVERSAL CRIMES BEFORE DOMESTIC COURTS Venue: Bergen Resource Centre for International Development
09.00-09.30	Coffee/tea
9.30-10.15	Latin American Jurisprudence on Leadership Prosecution Naomi Roht-Arriaza (Professor of Law, University of California)
10.15-10.45	Preconditions for Domestic Prosecution of Universal Crimes in Latin America Elin Skaar (Senior Researcher, CMI.)
10.45-11.15	Observations and Comments Harmen van der Wilt (Professor of Law, University of Amsterdam)
11.15-11.30	Questions or comments to speakers from the floor
11.30-12.30	Lunch at the CMI/UoB Resource Center
12.30-17.00	SESSION IV: FUNDAMENTAL JUSTICE IN GUATEMALA Venue: CMI, Main meeting room
12.30-13.00	Introduction to Transitional Justice in Guatemala Jemima García-Godos (Associate Professor, University of Oslo)
13.00-13.30	The work of the International Commission of Jurists in Guatemala Ramon Cadena (Regional Director, ICJ, Central America)
13.30-13.45	The Guatemalan Justice Project of the Norwegian Judges’ Association Judge Elizabeth Baumann (Head of the NJA Human Rights Committee)
13.45-14.00	CMN activities in Guatemala Emilie Hunter (University of Nottingham and CMN Deputy Director)
14.00-14.15	Coffee Break
14.15-15.15	Experiences of Guatemalan Judges
14.15-14.45	Judge Yasmin Barrios (The High Risk Court/Former Presiding Judge of the Rios Montt Trial)
14.45-15.05	Judge Jorge Vásquez (Court of First Instance/Former Head of Judges’ Association)
15.05-15.15	Questions or comments to speakers from the floor
15.15-15.45	The Particular Role of Female Judges Judge Claudia Gonzales (The Femicide Court)
15.45-16.00	The Particular Role of Female Judges Judge Yasmin Barrios (The High Risk Court)
16.00-16.15	Coffee Break
16.15-17.00	Roundtable Discussion on Fundamental Justice & the Role of Judges
19.00	Dinner for Speakers and Invited Guests hosted by the Norwegian Judges’ Association