ICC meets with legal practitioners in Kampala
The ICC Field Outreach Unit today concluded a one-day workshop with members of the Ugandan legal community at the Grand Imperial Hotel, Kampala. The workshop was organised in partnership with the Uganda Law Society and brought together fifty lawyers currently practising at the Ugandan national courts.
The objective of the workshop was to provide lawyers with updates about the activities of the International Criminal Court (ICC), as well as stimulate their interest to enlist in the List of Counsel to enable them practice at the ICC. The need for Ugandan counsel, and particularly of female counsel, to enlist in the ICC List of Counsel was identified with the realisation that there are few Ugandan lawyers to have expressed interest in this area.
The workshop was also aimed at encouraging lawyers with extensive academic and/or professional expertise in an area of work relevant to or related to the Court to participate on the Court’s Visiting Professional Programme.
Opening the workshop, Honourable Justice Elizabeth Ibanda Nahamya, judge of the Special War Crimes Division of the High Court of Uganda, emphasised the need for Ugandan lawyers to acquire international experience and expertise by practicing at the ICC in order to gain relevant experience and expertise.
The main topics of discussion included an overview of the activities of the ICC, victim participation and reparation processes, the activities of the Trust Fund for Victims and the Review Conference of the Rome Statute. Many of the questions centred on the requirements for counsel to practice at the ICC, victims’ participation and reparation, the co-operation of States Parties and the independence of the ICC.
A former president of the Uganda Law Society, Mr Rubemba Nkunzingoma Deo, thanked the ICC for bringing the Court to members of the legal fraternity, and urged lawyers to take advantage of the call for them to practice at the ICC.
For more information, please contact Maria Mabinty Kamara, Field Outreach Co-ordinator for Uganda on Tel: +256-772-700655 or email: [email protected]