Seminar on ‘Operational Functioning of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Judicial Education: Emerging Paradigms’, Organized by the Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) in Collaboration with Delhi Judicial Academy (DJA)
The Asian-African Legal Consultative Organization (AALCO) in collaboration with the Delhi Judicial Academy (DJA) organized a seminar on ‘Operational Functioning of the International Criminal Court and International Judicial Education: Emerging Paradigms’ at the Delhi Judicial Academy, New Delhi on the 12th and 13th of January 2019. The focus of the seminar was on the operational functioning of the International Criminal Court (ICC) and International Judicial Education. The inaugural session was graced by the presence of Prof. Dr. Mrinal Satish, Chairperson, Delhi Judicial Academy; Prof. Dr. Kennedy Gastorn, Secretary-General of AALCO; Dr. V.D. Sharma, Additional Secretary, Legal and Treaties, Division, Ministry of External Affairs, New Delhi; Amb. Motoo Noguchi, Japan representing Mr. Masahiro Mikami, Assistant Minister and Director-General of International Legal Affairs Bureau, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Japan and the President of AALCO; and, Justice Sanjiv Khanna, Judge, High Court of Delhi and Chairperson, Examination cum Judicial Education and Training Programme Committee.
The first day of the seminar comprised of themes relating to the evaluation of the functioning of the ICC for the last 20 years since its inception, experiences of the ICC dealing with investigation and prosecution of the international crimes and the principles applicable therein relating to the appraisal of evidence. The panels comprised of the noted speakers and renowned experts in the field including Mr. Christian Mahr, Director of the Division of External Operations of Registry, ICC; Prof. Makau W. Mutua, Chairman, Kenya Human Rights Commission and SUNY Distinguished Professor, Floyd F. & Hilda L. Hurst Scholar, SUNY Buffalo Law School, The State University of New York; Amb. Motoo Noguchi, Prof. Dr. Mrinal Satish, Mr. Narinder Singh, Former Member of the International Law Commission (ILC) and Former Additional Secretary, Ministry of External Affairs, Government of India, Mr. Siddharth Luthra, Senior Advocate, Supreme Court of India, and Dr. Anirudh Rajput, Member, International Law Commission.
On the second day of the Seminar, Prof. Mutua and Mr. Anand Pathak, Advocate, Supreme Court of India sought to furnish an insight into ICC’s judicial practice versus national perspectives in session 4. The role of judicial education in promoting the rule of law was discussed in the fifth session by Hon’ble Ms. Justice Gita Mittal, Chief Justice of Jammu & Kashmir, Hon’ble Ms. Justice Manju Goel, Judge (Retd.), High Court of Delhi, Amb. Noguchi, and Prof. Mrinal Satish. The final session focussed on the role of international/national judicial academies in promoting international judicial dialogue. Prof. (Dr.) N.R. Madhava Menon, Former Director, NJA, Hon’ble Ms. Justice (R) Sandra E. Oxner, founding Director, Canadian Institute for Advanced Legal Studies, and Ms. Neena Bansal Krishna, Director (Academics), DJA shared their expertise and experiences on the topic. The Seminar was concluded by the vote of thanks being presented by Mr. Laxmi Kant Gaur, Director (Administration), DJA.