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The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court

Mass atrocities related to crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide have gone unpunished to a level deemed unjustifiable for years. Thousands still remain susceptible to regimes which employ child soldiers, kill innocent civilians, and prey on the vulnerable. In response, countries all over the world pooled together to form the first permanent, independent (treaty based) International Criminal Court to prosecute such perpetrators (regardless of official status).

The Reckoning: The Battle for the International Criminal Court follows dynamic former ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno Ocampo and his team for 3 years across 4 continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord’s Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan’s President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur, challenging the UN Security Council to arrest him. Building cases against genocidal criminals presents huge challenges, and the Prosecutor has a justice mandate but no police force. At every turn, he must pressure the international community to muster political will for the cause.

In conjunction with GroJIL’s next issue themed ‘International Criminal Organisations : Contemporary Challenges’ which will be out next month, we invite you to indulge in this exclusive evening of exploration as this tiny court in The Hague struggles to change the world and forge a new paradigm for justice. 7 years have gone by since the first release of this documentary, which begs the question of the current relevance and efficacy the ICC has taken over the years. Thus, after the documentary screening, Prof. Andre de Hoogh, associate professor in International Law at the University of Groningen will give a short lecture in relation to the ICC and the position it’s taken over the years which will then be followed by a question and answer session.

Do you want to see justice prevail? Come and sit with us.
The entrance is free.

You can access the link to the trailer here :

Guest Lecture on Human Trafficking

On 17 April 2014, the Groningen Journal of International Law is organising, in cooperation with the Department of International and Constitutional Law of the University of Groningen, a guest lecture on human trafficking, the topic of our latest published issue.

Dr. Alexis Aronowitz from University College Utrecht and Elif Isitman (M.Sc./M.A.), two of the authors of our issue on human trafficking, will provide their observations on the matter of “Trafficking of Human Beings for the Purpose of Organ Removal: Are (International) Legal Instruments Effective Measures to Eradicate the Practice?”

Alexis A. Aronowitz received her Bachelors of Criminal Justice from Loyola University in New Orleans, Louisiana (1979)  and her Masters (1981) and PhD (1988) in Criminal Justice from the State University of New York at Albany. She is a senior lecturer in criminology at University College Utrecht and works as an independent consultant on human trafficking. She has served as a staff member and consultant on projects in the field of trafficking in human beings for the United Nations Interregional Crime and Justice Research Institute, the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime, the International Organization for Migration, the Organization for Security and Cooperation in Europe and other international organizations. She is the author/co-author of three U.N. reports as well as numerous book chapters and journal articles on the subject. Her book Human Trafficking Human Misery: The Global Trade in Human Beings, was published by Praeger in 2009.

Elif Isitman received her MSc in International Crimes and Criminology and an MA in Journalism from the Vrije Universiteit Amsterdam. Her MSc dissertation concerned the trafficking of women and girls in post-conflict areas, using Bosnia & Herzegovina and Kosovo as case studies. Following her MSc studies, she interned and worked at the Bureau of the Dutch National Rapporteur on Trafficking in Human Beings and Sexual Violence against Children (BNRM), where she conducted research into child pornography and corresponding perpetrator profiles. She currently lives and works in Leiden.

Judge Kees Klomp from The Hague Court of Appeal, who is also a member of the special human trafficking chamber of the Court of Appeal, will elaborate on how the matter is dealt with in practice.

Judge Kees Klomp graduated from the University of Groningen in 1982. Since 1995, he is a judge at the Amsterdam District Court. Since 2009, he has trained judges in Eastern European Countires, recently in Bosnia Herzegovina and Albania. Currently he is a judge at the The Hague Court of Appeal. He is working as an investigating magistrate and from 1 April 2014, he will also be a member of the special human trafficking chamber of the Appeal Court.

Date: Thursday, 17 April 2014

Time: 17.00 – 19.00

Location: University of Groningen, Academy Building, Heymanszaal

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