WHAT – Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is an intergovernmental facility that manages the rapid deployment of criminal justice professionals from a stand-by roster. These experts, coming from every region of the world, are specifically trained in the investigation of genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity and serious human rights violations.
WHY – JRR was created through an intergovernmental forum to provide the international community with a facility to more effectively deliver international criminal justice and respond to serious human rights violations, making it more likely that “seeing justice done” becomes a component of post-conflict peacebuilding.
JRR experts, coming from every part of the world, build national capacity, as well as internationally deployable capacity. In this way, they assist in the delivery of the complementarity principle under the Rome Statute for the International Criminal Court.
HOW – Experts from the JRR roster can assist in response to requests made by States, or international institutions with the jurisdiction, to carry out investigations, inquiries, fact-finding, mediation support and other activities where the identification, analysis, collection, preservation and reporting of information pertaining to genocide, war crimes, crimes against humanity or serious human rights violations is needed.
Operational since October 2009, JRR has already assisted in response to 29 requests for deployments of experts.
WHO – JRR currently has 73 participating States, and has an Executive Board consisting of Argentina, Canada, Colombia, Finland, the Netherlands, Sierra Leone, Sweden, Switzerland (Vice-Chair), and Uganda (Chair).
JRR manages an ‘evergreen’ roster of just over 400, mainly active-duty professionals comprising a broad range of expertise including crime scene investigation, legal analysis, a variety of forensic specialties, witness protection, military analysis, human rights investigations etc. In addition to their expertise, these professionals receive training in carrying out investigations under international law in post-conflict environments before being certified to the JRR roster.
Experts on the JRR roster currently come from 87 countries representing every region of the world. The JRR roster currently has over 400 deployable experts, including from 15 countries in Asia, 17 countries in Africa, 11 countries in South and Central Americas and the Caribbean, and 12 countries in the Middle East and North Africa (MENA) region. Just over 50% of experts on the roster are women.
JRR is further responsible, in partnership with UN Women, for the management of a specialized holistic roster of experts in investigating crimes of sexual and gender based violence (SGBV) in conflict situations. The experts on this SGBV special roster undergo specialized training developed with and carried out by JRR’s training partner organization, the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).
WHERE - The JRR Secretariat is based in Geneva, Switzerland. The Secretariat also maintains a liaison office in The Hague, in the Netherlands and in New York, USA.
Justice_Rapid_Response_Fact_Sheet_ENGLISH_April 2014