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Press Releases

The Canadian Partnership for International Justice wins Governor General’s Innovation Award

By News, Press Releases

The Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) announced today the Canadien Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ) is one of the recipients of the height annual Governor General’s Innovation Awards (GGIA). These awards recognize and celebrate exceptional and transformational Canadian innovations, which create a positive impact in Canada and inspire the next generation of innovators.

Led by Professor Fannie Lafontaine, the CPIJ is a pan-Canadian partnership of 25 researchers from 8 universities, 4 university-based legal clinics and 4 non-governmental organizations. A key player in international justice at home and abroad, CPIJ’s activities emphasized the urgency of addressing violent crisis to prevent atrocities, punish perpetrators, reconcile victims and perpetrators, and identify the root causes of these crisis in order to achieve a stable peace.

The CPIJ innovates by building multidisciplinary and cross-sectoral bridges between research and practice through legal clinics, recognized as social innovations, where was trained a multinational cohort of more than 600 students now equipped with knowledge, practical training and diversified network, who embodied the future of international justice.

The production of more than 200 scholarly texts that have been disseminated in several languages, including to civil society, through media articles and blogs, interviews and events, allowed CPIJ to increase knowledge on international justice and to raise awareness about the fight against impunity.

Everywhere, in specialized forums or close to the fieldworkers, CPIJ has brought together, trained, informed, connected and sensitized thousands of people. The team’s numerous interventions on the situation in Ukraine are striking and recent examples, as is its work on colonial genocide and the recognition of a crime of ecocide.

In addition to contributing to the defence of human rights and the construction of a just and inclusive society, CPIJ changed the way research is done.

The award will enable CPIJ to continue and promote its research and training activities to support the fight against impunity for international crimes.

See the Rideau Hall Foundation (RHF) press release.

Sosa Orantes case: Canada could end 40 years of impunity

By News, Press Releases

December 7th 2022, Quebec City – Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC), in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ), calls again on the Canadian government to reconsider its decision not to pursue criminal charges against Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes, who is suspected of having participated in the Las Dos Erres massacre in Guatemala 40 years ago today.

On December 7th 1982, the village of Las Dos Erres was ravaged by a special unit of the Guatemalan forces in  which Sosa Orantes served as second lieutenant. Almost the entire population was murdered. Only a handful of children survived, including Ramiro Osorio Cristales, now a Canadian citizen. LWBC, with the support of the CPIJ, is accompanying him in his quest for justice.

The Canadian government initiated proceedings in 2017 to revoke Mr. Sosa Orantes’ Canadian citizenship before the Federal Court. In a May 2022 statement, LWBC and the CPIJ demonstrated the existence of significant risks that he would never face trial if he were to be deported. Despite the support of 20 organizations, the statementignored by the authorities.

The Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act gives the Canadian government the power to initiate criminal proceedings against Mr. Sosa Orantes, ending 40 years of impunity in this case.

LWBC, along with the CPIJ, has repeatedly reminded the Canadian government of its power over the past two years. These calls have gone unanswered.

In May 2022, LWBC went to Ottawa with survivor Ramiro Osorio Cristales to request a meeting with the Minister of Justice and Attorney General of Canada, the Honourable David Lametti, to press for criminal charges. The door was closed to them.

On this day of commemoration of the Las Dos Erres tragedy, which happened exactly 40 years ago, in solidarity with Ramiro Osorio Cristales, who every day runs the risk of meeting one of those who committed this horrendous crime, and with all the survivors of the massacre as well as their loved ones, LWBC and the CPIJ once again call on the Canadian government to show courage and bring Mr. Sosa Orantes to justice.

Canada has recently expressed a strong commitment to international criminal justice by being one of the first countries to support investigations into crimes against humanity and war crimes committed in Ukraine. This commitment, which is to be welcomed, should also be translated into an unequivocal refusal to allow Canadian territory to harbour individuals suspected of the most serious crimes.

Canadian Partnership for International Justice wins SSHRC 2022 Partnership Award

By CPIJ in the Media, News, Press Releases

Today, December 1, 2022, the Social Sciences and Humanities Research Council (SSHRC) will present the 2022 Partnership Award to the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ) during a televised ceremony at the Canadian War Museum in Ottawa.

The award recognizes the contribution of a SSHRC-funded partnership that, through mutual co-operation and shared intellectual leadership and resources, has demonstrated impact and influence within or beyond the social sciences and humanities research community. The award is one of five Impact Awards which recognize the achievements of Canada’s top researchers in social sciences and humanities.

Led by Professor Fannie Lafontaine (Université Laval), the CPIJ is a pan-Canadian partnership of 25 researchers from 8 universities, 4 university-based legal clinics and 3 non-governmental organizations, which aims to strengthen access to justice for victims of international crimes such as genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.

CPIJ’s activities emphasized the urgency of addressing violent crisis to prevent atrocities, punish perpetrators, reconcile victims and perpetrators, and identify the root causes of these crisis in order to achieve a stable peace. Everywhere, in specialized forums or in the field, close to the fieldworkers, CPIJ has brought together, trained, informed, connected and sensitized thousands of people.

In addition to contributing to the defence of human rights and the construction of a just and inclusive society, CPIJ changed the way research is done by establishing a cross-sectoral collaboration between universities, legal clinics, NGOs and international organizations which provides cross-sectional views on the challenges of the fight against impunity, where each person’s expertise is shared and nourished by those of others.

Through this collective and inclusive approach, CPIJ promoted access to justice for victims of serious human rights violations. Its work was a milestone in the fight against systemic racism and discrimination in Canada and beyond. By organizing more than 60 events of all kinds and producing more than 200 scholarly texts that have been disseminated in several languages, including to civil society, through media articles, blogs and interviews, CPIJ increased knowledge on international justice and raised awareness about the fight against impunity.

In particular, it helped to create a multinational cohort of students (600 of whom were trained in legal clinics) with the knowledge, practical training and diverse network who are the future of international justice.

The award, which comes with a $50,000 grant, will enable CPIJ to continue and promote its research.

Antigua and Barbuda and Tuvalu to seek Justice for Climate Change damage before International Courts

By Communiqués de presse, News, Press Releases

Embassy of Antigua and Barbuda – Press Release

Edinburgh, October 31st, 2021…   The Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda – current Chair of the Alliance of Small Island States (AOSIS) – and the Prime Minister of Tuvalu today signed an historic accord that opens the way for ground-breaking litigation before international courts.  This offers a novel legal path to address the severe damage to Small Island States caused by climate change. 

The Agreement establishes a Commission of Small Island States on Climate Change and International Law, creating a body for the development and implementation of fair and just global environmental norms and practices.  The Commission is also authorized to request advisory opinions from the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS) on the legal responsibility of States for carbon emissions, marine pollution, and rising sea levels.  

Membership in the Commission is open to all Small Island States whose leaders have long complained about the absence of effective mechanisms for States most responsible for climate change to compensate for the resulting loss and damage. 

At the signing ceremony in Edinburgh, the Prime Minister of Antigua and Barbuda, Gaston Browne, explained that: “Small Island States’ emission of greenhouse gases is negligible, but they bear the overwhelming burden of its catastrophic effects, including persistent destruction, repeated costs of rebuilding and huge debts to finance resilience.  This injustice must end.    We insist that those States most responsible for this dire situation respect their legal obligations to stop global warming and to provide compensation to its victims.  The time for empty promises is over.”  Prime Minister of Tuvalu, Kausea Natano, stressed that: “For us, climate justice is a matter of survival.  Rising sea levels, extreme weather events, the decline of marine resources – these threaten our very existence.  We see better than anyone else what is being done to our beautiful planet.  It is time to put words into action, to save Small Island States, and to save the world from impending disaster.” 

The legal counsel to the Commission, Professor Payam Akhavan of Massey College, University of Toronto, and Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague, said that: “Small Island States are the canary in the coalmine of climate catastrophe.  Their fate is a warning to all humankind that the disastrous consequences of global warming are happening now, not in a distant future.  The fundamental principle of international law not to cause harm to others has now taken on an unprecedented dimension.  This historic initiative to pursue climate justice should be welcome by all who care about the future of our planet.” 

For media enquires please contact: COSIS.COP26@gmail.com

Read the Agreement for the establishment of COSIS. (PDF, 3,6 Mo)

Alleged Massacre Perpetrator Lives Freely in Canada: Canadian Government Called to Act

By Press Releases

June 16, 2021, Quebec – Lawyers Without Borders Canada (LWBC), in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ), calls on the Canadian government to respect its obligation to prosecute crimes against humanity and war crimes, particularly in the case of Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes, who is suspected of having participated in a massacre in Guatemala in 1982.

Mr. Sosa Orantes, a former second lieutenant in the Guatemalan army, has been living peacefully in Canada for several months. Forty years ago, the special unit to which he belonged beat, tortured and savagely murdered more than 200 people – including children – wiping out almost the entire civilian population of the Guatemalan village of Las Dos Erres.

Under the principle of universal jurisdiction, the Crimes Against Humanity and War Crimes Act gives the Canadian government the power to initiate criminal proceedings against Mr. Sosa Orantes. Universal jurisdiction can be used for the most serious crimes committed in another country, such as the Las Dos Erres massacre. The person suspected of the crime must be present in Canada.

One of the only two survivors of the Las Dos Erres massacre, Ramiro Osorio Cristales, now lives in Canada. Mr. Cristales fled his country a little more than twenty years ago, after having lived through hell at the hands of one of the soldiers responsible for the massacre. He has been seeking justice ever since.

“Knowing one of these soldiers can pass in front of my house brings me back to 1982, to the day when my village was plunged into darkness. Among all the people, only two lights haven’t been snuffed out. I’m one of them. Seeking justice is my duty. I’m the voice of the people who died and I’m asking the Canadian government to join me and Lawyers Without Borders Canada in this quest by prosecuting the case of Jorge Vinicio Sosa Orantes.” – Ramiro Osorio Cristales, survivor of the massacre of Las Dos Erres.

Since 2017, Mr. Sosa Orantes has been facing proceedings initiated by the Canadian government in Federal Court to revoke his Canadian citizenship. However, by limiting itself to this procedure, Canada is forgetting the most important thing, which is Mr. Sosa Orantes’ alleged responsibility in the perpetration of the massacre of Las Dos Erres, risking that justice will never be served.

“The case of Mr. Sosa Orantes is an opportunity for Canada to demonstrate its commitment to fighting impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to demonstrate its solidarity with the victims of these crimes and their families. Canada has the tools and resources to assert its leadership and take concrete action for justice and human rights at the international level. By not seizing the opportunity to prosecute war criminals, Canada is allowing them to live a peaceful new life without having to answer for their actions. This should no longer be an option.” – Pascal Paradis, LWBC Executive Director.

Canada’s War Crimes Program: A Mirage in the Fight against Impunity

Even though Canada has the power to fight impunity, it has not demonstrated a real willingness to act. By continuing to rely solely on citizenship and immigration procedures, Canada is not fulfilling its obligations under international law to fight impunity for war crimes and crimes against humanity.

“Canada has the legal and financial means, and the relevant evidence, to prosecute Mr. Sosa Orantes here. Unfortunately, as in several hundred other cases since 1998, Canada is taking the easy way out and is ignoring its international responsibilities. Under the current system for fighting against impunity for international crimes, States bear the responsibility of trying war criminals. If he is not prosecuted here for his participation in this massacre, justice will not be served anywhere, to the detriment of the fundamental rights of victims and the rule of law.”-  Fannie Lafontaine, CPIJ Executive Director

Although Canada’s War Crimes Program is active, its budget has seen almost no increase since its launch in 1998. There is a lack of transparency in how the funds are used.. No annual activity report has been made public for the past six years. Even today, the criteria that guide the discretionary power to prosecute remain unclear.

In more than 20 years, only two criminal prosecutions have been conducted under the Crimes against Humanity and War Crimes Act. Several other countries are doing much better.

Press conference: June 16, 10h30 EDT

About

Lawyers Without Borders Canada is a non-governmental international cooperation organization whose mission is to support the defence of the human rights of people in situations of vulnerability by strengthening access to justice and legal representation.

The Canadian Partnership for International Justice unites 24 leading Canadian academics and non-governmental actors from 12 partner organizations to work together to make the fight against impunity for most serious international crimes more effective and to increase victims’ access to remedies.

Contact

418-907-2607 poste 102

communications@asfcanada.ca

CPIJ Publishes an Expert Commentary on the Al Hassan Case

By News, Press Releases

10 July 2020 – On 14 July 2020, the trial of Al Hassan Ag Abdul Aziz (Al Hassan) will begin before the International Criminal Court, marking a major step in the fight against impunity for international crimes committed in Mali. Experts from the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ) prepared a commentary analyzing the Decision on the Confirmation of Chargesissued on 30 September 2019, as well as the most recent developments in this case. 

Al Hassan was a member of the coalition formed by the armed groups Ansar Dine and Al-Qaeda in the Islamic Maghreb. He will face charges of crimes against humanity and war crimes allegedly committed in the Timbuktu region between 1 April 2012 and 28 January 2013. CPIJ’s Expert Commentary highlights some of the most salient aspects of this important case, including the admissibility of the case in light of the gravity criteria and the accused’s hierarchical level, the precision of the charges, the application of international humanitarian law, the charges of crimes against humanity and the systematic character of the attacks, the historic confirmation of the charge of crimes against humanity of gender-based persecution as well as the respect for the rights of the accused. 

This Expert Commentary was published this week in English and in French as four posts on the blog Quid Justitiae (hereherehere and here). The full version is now available online on both CPIJ’s and Lawyers Without Borders Canada’s institutional websites. 

Read the Expert Commentary here.

CPIJ urges the ICC to investigate atrocities perpetrated by former DRC President Kabila  

By Press Releases

On June 17, 2020, the Canadian Partnership for International Justice submitted a letter to the Office of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court (ICC), urging it to investigate former President Joseph Kabila and senior officials from his government for atrocities perpetrated in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC). The letter, which was also signed by 17 other civil society organizations and experts, echoes the voices of Congolese and international human rights organizations, who have been calling for the ICC to act. 

Although the Office of the Prosecutor has previously investigated and prosecuted a handful of perpetrators of international crimes in the DRC, it has yet to seriously address the role and responsibility of former President Kabila and relevant government officials in the commission of atrocities including killings, arbitrary detentions, torture, sexual violence, enforced disappearances, and persecution. Ongoing impunity for these crimes has contributed to a climate of fear and an alarming escalation of violence in the DRC, amid rumours that Kabila is planning to return to power.   

It is time for the ICC to act and to fulfil its commitment of fighting against impunity by effectively investigating these crimes, without delay. 

Read the full letter here.

The reply of the Office of the Prosecutor is available here.

Remembering David Petrasek

By News, Press Releases

It is with immense sadness that we have heard of the passing of CPIJ co-researcher David Petrasek this week, following his battle with cancer.

David was an esteemed colleague and a friend. As a leading expert in human rights, humanitarian law, and conflict resolution, he notably served at the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights, at Amnesty International, and as a professor at the University of Ottawa. Member of the Partnership since its creation, he shared insightful perspectives on criminal remedies and judicial diplomacy, notably at the 15th Assembly of State Parties, as he co-headed the Partnership’s delegation. His brilliant career reflected his values of empathy and humanity, as well as a tireless commitment to advancing human rights both within Canada and globally.

On behalf of every member of the Partnership, we send our heartfelt condolences to his family and friends. David will be missed by the entire human rights community and by each one of us in our Partnership. We promise to keep working to uphold and defend the values he cherished and fought for.

(Image: University of Ottawa)

The Canadian Partnership for International Justice is attending the 18th Assembly of State Parties to the International Criminal Court

By News, Press Releases, Student News

25 November 2019 – For the fourth year in a row, the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ) is represented at the Assembly of States Parties (ASP) to the International Criminal Court (ICC) by a delegation of practitioners, academics and students from various NGOs and academic institutions.

Each year, the ASP is one of the most important events in the field of international justice. Representatives of States that have ratified or acceded to the Rome Statute gather to make crucial decisions on the issues the Court is currently facing. Many ICC senior officials are also attending, and many side-events are organized by civil society organizations to stimulate the discussions and strive to find solutions to the issues that hamper the project envisioned in the Rome Statute.

The 18th ASP, held from 2 to 7 December 2019 at the World Forum in The Hague (the Netherlands), will allow students to deepen their knowledge of the most important issues pertaining to international justice while living a real experience of judicial diplomacy. This event is an outstanding opportunity for CPIJ to train a cohort of students who are educated, engaged and networked in international and transnational law. Through blogging and live twitting, CPIJ’s delegates will train and educate diverse Canadian audiences about the challenges, pitfalls and potential of the system of international justice, and about the priorities to improve this system. Thanks to their experience and knowledge, the delegation will contribute to enhancing Canada’s role as a global leader in the fight against impunity.

To learn more about this year’s specific issues and to get news and updates, follow CPIJ on Twitter and Facebook, and watch for the delegates’ posts on CPIJ partners’ platforms (IntLawGrrls, Quid Justitiae, Justice in Conflict, Blogue d’Avocats sans frontières Canada, PKI Global Justice Journal).

 

Who is attending the ASP this year?

Practitioners

Students

Ghuna Bdwi (@gmbdiwe)

Ghuna Bdiwi is a Syrian human rights lawyer. She is currently finishing her Ph.D. at Osgoode Hall Law School (York University). She concentrates on legal matters that are related to human rights violations, criminal accountability, and investigations of war crimes in Syria. Ghuna has received many prestigious awards during her professional and academic journey. She is the recipient of the 2015 International Human Rights Award by the International Center for Human Rights – Canada, an award that acknowledged her advocacy work in defending human rights in Syria. Additionally, she received the 2016 John Peters Humphrey Fellowship in International Human Rights from the Canadian Council on International Law, and the 2015 Fellowship from the Nathanson Center on Transnational Human Rights, Crime and Security. She is a graduate fellow with the Canadian Centre for Responsibility to Protect (University of Toronto) and the Centre for Refugees Studies (York University). She has taught many courses in human rights in Canada and abroad. She is a member of the Constitutional committee that is drafting the Syrian constitution, and also a chair of peace and justice research centre that concentrates on heinous crimes in Syria.

Justine Bernatchez (@JustineBernatc1)

Justine Bernatchez is a LL.M. candidate in International and Transnational Law at Université Laval, under the direction of Professors Fannie Lafontaine and Christine Vézina. She is particularly interested in international criminal law and its interaction with women’s rights. For almost a year now, Justine has been working as the Canadian coordinator of the ICC Legal Tools Project. She is also working as a student supervisor for the Clinique de droit international pénal et humanitaire, at Université Laval. She holds a law degree (LL.B.) from this same university and studied at Åbo Akademi University’s Institute for Human Rights (Finland) as an exchange student. Justine is currently completing her Bar internship as a legal consultant with a defence team at the International Criminal Court.

Morgane Greco (@MorganeGrc)

Morgane Greco is an International Studies Master’s degree student from University of Montreal. She holds a Public Law’s Bachelor additionally to a Political Science’s Bachelor from Lyon II University in France. Thanks to the ERASMUS+ Program, Morgane has also spent one semester in Nicosia at University of Cyprus, where she studied the Cypriot post-conflict society. She is currently articling at the United Nations’ Office of the Special Representative of the Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict in New York and writing a Master’s thesis about sexual violence in the Eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Morgane’s approach is focused on conflict-related Sexual Violence (CRSV) Victims, in a context of impunity. She is also very interested in justice and accountability benefits for CRSV victims.

 

Ania Kwadrans (@aniakwad)

Ania Kwadrans is a Senior Policy Advisor at University of Ottawa Refugee Hub, providing strategic and policy guidance, on local, national, and global issues affecting refugee rights. Before joining the Refugee Hub, Ania worked with Amnesty International, engaging in strategic litigation on human rights cases before courts of all levels, including the Supreme Court of Canada, and advocacy before Canadian Parliamentary Committees as well as United Nations treaty bodies. Ania holds a J.D. degree from Osgoode Hall Law School, is called to the Ontario bar, and is currently undertaking graduate studies in International Human Rights Law at University of Oxford.

 

Olivier Lacombe (@LacombeOlivier)

Olivier Lacombe is a LL.M. candidate at Université Laval Faculty of Law. His research interests are international criminal law, international human rights law as well as the rights of Indigenous Peoples. Under the supervision of Professor Fannie Lafontaine, he conducts research on the obligation to prevent the crime of genocide in international law. Olivier holds a law degree (LL.B.) from Université Laval and studied at the Institute for Human Rights at Åbo Akademi (Finland) as an exchange student. In the course of his studies, he contributed to the activities of the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic of Université Laval.

 

Ismehen Melouka (@IMelouka)

Ismehen Melouka is a Ph.D. candidate in criminology at Université de Montréal under the supervision of Professor Jo-Anne Wemmers. Having obtained a bachelor’s degree in criminology, Ismehen pursued graduate studies in victimology. She focused on the perceptions and emotions of non-indigenous people surrounding the process of reconciliation with Indigenous peoples in Canada. Her doctoral studies now allow her to explore the recognition of victimization in the same non-native population. She is also a teaching assistant for the International Justice and Victims’ Rights Summer School in collaboration with the Canadian Partnership for International Justice. Her interests in criminology and human rights also allowed her to get involved with the NGO Amnesty International – UdeM, which she was president in the past years. Ismehen is also assistant to the Special Adviser on Equity, Diversity and Inclusion (EDI) for the Rector of Université de Montréal.

Carmen Montero Ferrer (@CarmentxuAyerbe)

Carmen Montero Ferrer holds a Ph.D. in law from University of Santiago de Compostela (Spain). Her thesis, entitled “International crimes of sexual violence and impunity: an examination of the transitional justice mechanisms and their application in Africa,” was defended in 2017. She currently benefits from a research fellowship awarded by the Programme of Posdoctoral Training of Xunta de Galicia, which allows her to pursue her research at the Canada’s Research Chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights, at Université Laval (Canada). Her research now focuses on civil society contributions to accountability for international crimes.

Lily Wang (@alilbusy)

Lily is currently a third year J.D. student at University of Ottawa. Her interest in international law stem from her undergraduate studies of International Development and Globalization and her multi-lingual work experiences abroad in Shanghai, Jerusalem, and The Hague. She is a research assistant at the University of Ottawa Human Rights Research and Education Centre(HRREC) and has also spent the 2019 summer working on the Al-Hassan defence team at the International Criminal Court. Currently, she works in the Legal department at the Canadian Red Cross and has previously worked in their Global Relations and Humanitarian Diplomacy unit. Lily’s law studies have focused largely on public international law and alternative dispute resolution methods. She hopes to bridge these two interests into a future career in international peace mediation and peacekeeping.

Coordination

Érick Sullivan(@2_ErickSullivan)

Érick Sullivan is a lawyer and the Deputy Director of the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic (Clinic). He is also the Coordinator of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice, the co-editor of the blog Quid Justitiae and a member of the Canadian Council on International Law’s Board of Directors. Holder of a Bachelor of Law (2009), he was recruited in 2010 by the Clinic as an assistant and was later appointed Deputy Director in 2012. As such, he was involved in more than 50 projects in many areas of law carried out by international organizations, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), States and lawyers. He notably co-directed a mapping of human rights violations completed by Avocats sans frontières Canada in support of the Malian Truth and Reconciliation Commission. Since 2010, he has supervised the researches of more than 400 students and has reviewed hundreds of papers. He also contributed in different ways to numerous scientific events, such as the workshop on collaboration between national prosecuting authorities and NGOs in the prosecution of international crimes, which he co-organized in March 2018 in Ottawa.

Catherine Savard (@c_savard1)

Catherine Savard pursues her LL.M. at Université Laval under the supervision of Professor Fannie Lafontaine. Assistant coordinator of the Canadian Partnership for International Justice since 2017, she is also member of the Canada Research Chair on International Criminal Justice and Human Rights and regularly collaborates with the International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic. She has previously studied at Åbo Akademi University’s Institute for Human Rights, and represented Université Laval at the Jean-Pictet international humanitarian law competition in 2018. Furthermore, she contributed to the National Inquiry into Missing and Murdered Indigenous Women and Girlslegal analysis on genocide, made public in June 2019. Her research focuses on genocide, colonialism and treaty interpretation in international law.

CPIJ funds student Steve Tiwa Fomekong’s project

By News, Press Releases, Student News

November 2019 – This spring, the Canadian Partnership for International Justice (CPIJ) launched its new funding program for student projects. This program aims to encourage and support students in their projects related to CPIJ’s research program.

Several requests were received for the 2019 summer trimester. While thanking all applicants, CPIJ is glad to disclose the identity of recipient Steve Tiwa Fomekong, LL.D. student under the supervision of CPIJ co-researcher Julia Grignon, at Laval University.

Steve received 1875 $ to teach at the first edition of the IHL Summer Schools in French-speaking Africa, in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso)

Expert in international humanitarian law (IHL), Steve received 1875 $ to teach at the first edition of the IHL Summer Schools in French-speaking Africa, in Ouagadougou (Burkina Faso). Held from 17 to 19 July 2019, the school was organized by the African Center on International Criminal and Humanitarian Law, in collaboration with Laval University’s International Criminal and Humanitarian Law Clinic, another CPIJ partner organization.

This summer, Steve also received funding from the research project Promotion et renforcement du droit international humanitaire: une contribution canadienne (“Osons le DIH!”), for him to teach at the 13thedition of the IHL summer school. This school took place from May 26 to 31 in Ottawa, and was organized by the Canadian Red Cross in collaboration with the University of Ottawa’s Human Rights Research and Education Centre, another CPIJ partner organization.

Steve Tiwa Fomekong teaching in Ottawa

To learn more, read the blog post Steve wrote about his experience.

You can also read this newly published blog post written by one of CPIJ’s recipients for the 2019 spring trimester, Jeremy Pizzy. LL.B. student at McGill University, Jeremy received 1000 $ to complete a 15-week internship at the International Criminal Court’s Trial Chambers section, in The Hague (Netherlands).

Requests for funding are analyzed by CPIJ’s Committee Scholarship and Student Funding Committee, which meets on a quarterly basis. Find out the procedure and applicable delays to request CPIJ funding.

Congratulations, Steve!