Second JRR training course

8-16 May 2010

The Second JRR Training Course was jointly organised by JRR Coordinating Group members the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) and No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ-Interim JRR Secretariat), together with the Argentine Forensic Anthropology Team (EAAF), with the support of the Governments of Argentina, Canada, Finland and the European Union. The course was hosted by the Argentine Joint Training Centre for Peacekeeping Operations (CAECOPAZ) from 8-16 May 2010 and took place at the Campo de Mayo, a military base approximately 40 km outside Buenos Aires with classroom facilities and external space for field exercises.

Successful completion of a full JRR Training Course or Certification Workshop (for those experts who had already completed a full training course in international investigations) is an essential precondition for the certification of individual experts to the JRR roster. The outline for the course curriculum was approved by the JRR Coordinating Group at its meeting in September 2008 and was refined following an assessment of the JRR Pilot Training Course held in Berlin in May 2009, including feedback from participants, observers and presenters at that Course.  The call for nominations for the Second JRR Training Course was launched in January 2010, as approved by the JRR Policy Group at its meeting in November 2009, and at its March 2010 meeting, the JRR Coordinating Group selected the training course participants from the nominations of individual experts received from JRR Participants. 

The Second JRR Training Course was designed to meet three main objectives: (1) ensure a strong baseline of knowledge among potential experts in human rights and international criminal investigations, especially for the types of deployments they are likely to face on a JRR mission, and to familiarise experts with working with other expertise needed on such missions; (2) ongoing refinement and improvement of the format and curriculum of the training course; and (3) validate the participants, with a view to their inclusion on the JRR roster.  Each objective was successfully met.

During the Second JRR Training Course, an additional twenty-four experts received standardised training on all topics relevant to a JRR deployment, to complement their own areas of expertise. For example, participants whose expertise was primarily in domestic criminal investigations were familiarised with the relevant areas of international law and with the challenges of conducting field missions and investigating mass atrocity crimes. The training course also provided briefings on aspects of international criminal investigations with which most participants had limited previous expertise, such as forensic investigations, forensic financial investigations, military organisations and command structures, and on practical aspects of deployment, including security and psycho-social issues.

The Report from the Second JRR Training Course held on 8-16 May 2010 (Eng/French to follow) outlines the content of the course and details specific recommendations made by participants, trainers and observers to help improve future JRR training courses.