Phnom Penh, 1 August 2014—The Human Rights Resource Centre participated in the “Summer School on International Criminal Law and Human Rights Law,” which was hosted by the Asian International Justice Initiative (AIJI) from 21 July to 1 August 2014 in Phnom Penh, Cambodia.
Attended by more or less 30 students from selected universities in Germany, USA, and Cambodia, the two-week program aimed to provide an overview of the fundamentals and the challenges in prosecuting international criminal crimes. The program gave a synopsis of the International Criminal Court, including its history, jurisdiction, and procedure, and introduced the participants to the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC). Among other activities aimed at familiarising them with how things are conducted “on-the-ground,” the students had the opportunity to meet and discuss with Judges, Defence counsels, Prosecutors, and Civil Party Lawyers at the ECCC.
Professor David Cohen, HRRC Special Advisor, gave the participants an introduction to International Human Rights Law, which included a brief overview of the several international and regional human rights systems. Ms. Faith Delos Reyes, HRRC Research and Project Coordinator, shared the work of the HRRC with the participants, including the findings of HRRC’s 2012 baseline study on violence against women and children in the region. Together with Professor Cohen, she also gave them an overview of the “Regional Human Rights Frameworks: The ASEAN Human Rights System.” Delos Reyes and Ms. Aviva Nababan, Assistant Research Coordinator at the HRRC, were also invited to discuss national-level human rights protection in the region, particularly focussing on the Paris Principles and the National Human Rights Institutions in ASEAN.
