The 5^thGeoffrey Nice Foundation Master Class took place from 2 to 13 July 2018 in Dubrovnik, Croatia.

Over the 11 days of the Master Class 39 participants enjoyed and actively participated in a rich program of presentations and discussions as well as group work on the topic of Political Expediency behind International Criminal Courts. Hosted by the Inter University Centre for Post-Graduate Studies (IUC) in Dubrovnik, the historic centre of Dubrovnik provided the perfect setting for interesting debates and exchanges between academics, politicians and practitioners.

Dr. Nevenka Tromp opened the course on Monday 2 July 2018 introducing the concept of the GN Foundation Master Class especially the aspect of inter-disciplinary work (legal, political, historical and sociological aspects) starting from the case of Prosecutor v. Slobodan Milošević. 
Sir Geoffrey Nice then spoke about Trials of Imperfection, starting with a historical overview leading up to the 1990s with the creation of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda by the UN Security Council and the Rome Statute, through which the International Criminal Court (ICC) was founded.

In the course of the following days, the participants enjoyed a diverse series of lectures by senior academics and practitioners including Prof. Dr. Gerry Simpson, Prof. Dr. Ejup Ganić, Ass. Prof. Dr. Sunčana Roksandić Vidlička, Lord Bonomy, Sir Nick Parker, HE Atifete Jahjaga, Frederik Harhoff, Benjamin Ferencz, Donald Ferencz, Andrew Cayley, Regina Paulose, Hamid Sabi, Nick Vetch and Marie-Ursula Kind as well as Geoffrey Nice Foundation Alumnis Aarif Abraham, Sabina Garahan, Sophie Howard and Rabah Kerbane. These lectures invited discussions on principles and theories of criminal justice, politics and economy in general, as well as very concrete case studies including, in addition to the ICTY and the ICC, also the Nüremberg Tribunal, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia, the Iran People’s Tribunal, the Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office for Kosovo, and the Extraordinary African Chambers in the Senegalese court system, where Hissène Habré was tried.

Chatham House rules applied to the content of the discussions and debates.

Divided into six working groups before the start of the Master Class, all participants worked autonomosly throughout the Master Class in their respective working groups.

On Thursday 12 July 2018, each group presented the key issues of their assigned case study covering aspects including political and historical background of the conflict that lead to the creation of the court, founding authorities and statute (legal framework, purpose/competence of the court, who provides the funding and where the court is located, composition of prosecution and chambers, local and/or international), who has been indicted and tried, which law applies, political and historical context in which the court operates, the legal basis for cooperation with national institutions, the impact of the court’s work on the peace process and/or transitional justice process.

Group 1: Case Study – Iran People’s Tribunal

Group 2: Case Study – Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Prosecutor’s Office

Group 3: Case Study – Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia 

Group 4: Case Study – International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia

Group 5: Case Study – International Criminal Court

Group 6: Case Study – The trial of Hissène Habré

On Friday 13 July 2018, the participants were additionally challenged to experiment in groups with a case scenario that asked for a response to an act of violence in a society divided by conflict, where the society had no legal system to deal with such acts. Each group dealt with the problem successfully, using elements of transitional justice processes.