The JRR Certification Workshop was jointly organised by JRR Coordinating Group members No Peace Without Justice (NPWJ – Interim JRR Secretariat) and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI), with the financial support of the European Commission and the Governments of Canada and Finland. The workshop was hosted by NPWJ from 5‑8 February 2010 in the offices of NPWJ in central Brussels.

The idea of holding a short ‘Certification Workshop’ emerged from observations made during the JRR Pilot Training Course (PTC) in May 2009, the report of which recommended that “the range of expertise represented on the JRR roster can be greatly expanded in a very short time‑frame and at minimal expense by seeking experts who are already fully trained for international criminal justice-related deployment, and instead of a full course, providing them with short, JRR specific training. These experts could receive an estimated two-day workshop on how to apply their training to JRR situations and could be added to the JRR roster so that it is fully operational as soon as it is established”.  The PTC report, including this recommendation, was shared with the Coordinating Group and Policy Group, after which NPWJ and IICI proceeded to implement its recommendations by organising the Certification Workshop.

The first JRR Certification Workshop, held from 11-14 September 2009, was designed to implement these recommendations through meeting two objectives: (1) to certify another group of experts to the JRR roster by providing experts who are already fully trained for international criminal justice-related deployment with training on how to apply their expertise to JRR situations; and (2) to test the short-course format with a view to applying it to future short certification courses. Each of these objectives was successfully met and the first Certification Workshop and the feedback received from participants and observers formed the basis for the Second Workshop held from 5-8 February 2010. 

Eight additional experts have now received standardised training on how to apply their pre‑existing training and expertise in international criminal justice-related deployments to JRR situations and have now been certified to the JRR roster and could be deployed if a request is received.  These participants now join the first and second groups of experts certified at the Pilot Training Course in May 2009 and Certification Workshop in September 2009, constituting a total current roster of 42 experts who could be deployed in the event that a request were received.

As did previous courses and workshops, this workshop served to create synergy between the participants, who may find themselves working together on a JRR team in the future. It also provided an opportunity for participants, presenters and observers to provide feedback on the workshop content and format, which are summarised in this report and will help to improve future JRR training and certification workshops.