A host of Palestinian students and professionals are now ready to navigate complex issues in international tribunals

JERUSALEM –Al-Quds University’s newly created Academy for Global Justice completed the first of its kind training in the procedural and substantive aspects of litigation before the International Criminal Court, as prescribed by the Rome Statute of 2002. The Academy, which is chaired by the former prosecutor of the International Criminal Court the Honorable Luis Moreno Ocampo, offered this intensive training course to twenty six students from the Faculty of Law and the Al-Quds Bard College. Five public prosecutors from the Palestinian Public Prosecution and four diplomats from the Palestinian Ministry of Foreign affairs also participated in the training. 

“The idea of establishing this first of its kind institute in the Middle East came in response to the pressing need in Palestine to train and prepare experts in the field of international criminal law and in the practical aspects of litigation before the ICC, especially now that Palestine has become a state party to the Rome Statute”, said President of Al-Quds University, Professor Imad Abu Kishek during the commencement ceremony.

The course covered several issues that relate to the court’s jurisdiction, including its mandate over the crime of genocide, war crimes, and crimes against humanity. The course also focused on the Palestinian case before the ICC, and the matters that the Prosecutor’s Office take into consideration when weighing the claims presented thereto.

The Honorable Ocampo, who supervised the training, emphasized that the Academy would lead in the field of international criminal law adding that, “in the near future, many students and professionals from different parts of the globe will join it to receive unique training that is otherwise available only at a few European centers.”  He also offered praise to Al-Quds University for its legal training program and for its academic and scientific achievements, describing the Al-Quds as the Silicon Valley of legal and human rights education.

Public Prosecutor Jamil Sujdieh, who participated in the course, said “the topics addressed in the training constituted the corner stone of our work, as prosecutors, in international crimes.” The Palestinian Prosecutor added that the knowledge, when applied, would bring the Palestinian people a step closer to freedom, independence, and justice.

Professor Abu Kishek concluded by adding that the university had created the Academy for Global Justice to add to the number of domestic experts who deal with the court procedures and possible impediments and also to provide training to a wide range of students and employees in the legal sector.

It was under the patronage of Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas and in partnership with the former founding Chief Prosecutor of the ICC, the Honorable Luis Moreno Ocampo, that Al-Quds University earlier this year launched Al-Quds Academy for Global Justice, the first of its kind institute in the Middle East that plans to focus on teaching, training, and research in the areas of international criminal law and human rights litigation.

Through a set of course offerings and executive training programs designed and implemented by the Honorable Luis Moreno Ocampo and both Palestinian and international experts, the Academy has been created to train Palestinian and international students, practitioners, and lawyers in the aforementioned fields. 

Al-Quds University’s Faculty of Law is determined to both educate and train students of the highest and finest caliber. Through its wide connections with law professionals and legal experts, Palestine’s leading law school gives its students unique opportunities to guide them onto a career pathway best suited to them. Al-Quds University’s Faculty of Law looks forward to welcoming a young generation of future Law students that will go on to shape a great future in their legal vocations.

Al-Quds University is a research intensive university based in Jerusalem, Palestine.  Established in the late 70’s, Al-Quds remains the only Arab university in the city of Jerusalem. It currently offers 105 undergraduate and graduate degree programs, taught through its fifteen degree-granting faculties and institutes.