LJUBLJANA SESSION, 3-5 SEPTEMBER 2013 REPORT The Ljubljana session was extremely interesting and highly inspiring and, in overall evaluation, definitely very successful. The session has broadened my knowledge in several respects. The discussion on the role of the ICC at the Bled Strategic Forum gave some ideas on its possible contributions to solving R2P situations which is the question analyzed in our RAUN paper, while the mentioned situations of Egypt and Syria are a part of what I tackle with in my Master thesis. In addition to that, highlighting relations between peace and justice, rule of law and economic development, and others helped me to realize the complexity of the international realities. The presentation at the Slovenian Military Post Edvard Peperko gave me a better understanding of regional and international concerns of the Slovenian military and enabled me to make a comparison of involvement of the army in international missions with the engagement of my own country. Nevertheless, probably the most useful part of the session for me was, at least from my current point of view, the very work on our group drafts presentations and papers. Learning to cooperate in teams of people not only of different nationalities, but mainly of different personal characters, is a valuable experience which is highly utilizable in many spheres of our everyday lives. Jaroslava Jebavá, RAUN student
The second session of the 2013/2014 Regional Academy on United Nations (hereafter RAUN) took place in Ljubljana during September 3-5, 2013. The session was organized by the RAUN coordinator for Slovenia, Dr Vasilka Sancin, Assistant Professor at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, with the help of a team of students from Slovenia. Forty students from twelve countries and their coordinators met in Ljubljana for three days full of interesting presentations, discussions and meetings with diplomats, military personnel, government and United Nations officials. The program of the session was very intensive and gave the students the opportunity to learn and discuss a wide variety of issues from international criminal justice and economic development of states to issues of international security, and peacekeeping. A significant amount of time was also available to students for discussions and to engage incommon research work within their teams on their RAUN research projects. The first day of the Ljubljana session took place in the picturesque tourist town of Bled, where the students and the coordinators joined the morning panel of the Bled Strategic Forum 2013 entitled International criminal justice: a precondition for a prosperous economic future?. The Bled Strategic Forum is an annual event where world leaders, diplomats and government officials discuss pressing global issues with the leaders of the private sectors. The international criminal justice panel moderated by Lousewies van der Laan, former Chief of Staff to the President of the International Criminal Court, had a remarkable list of speakers. The keynote speaker Navi Pillay, United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, stressed the need to transmit the effect of the International Criminal Court (hereafter ICC) to the national level channelling special consideration to the issues of accountability and prevention. Fatou Bensouda, Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, voiced her concern over the lack of effective address of international crimes against women and children and the delay this is instigating in repairing societies and enabling a prosperous future. She noted that women represent the hope for long-lasting peace and should therefore be empowered as true agents of economic change. Several panellists, like Richard Dicker, Director of Human Rights Watch s International Justice Program, Tiina Interlmann, President of the Assembly of States Parties to the Rome Statute, and Christian Wenaweser, Ambassador to the Principality of Liechtenstein to the United Nations in New York, recognized that the link between economic development and the rule of law, rather than criminal justice, is easier to establish and is more relevant, if not necessary (with some exemptions of emerging economies like China and Russia).
They also agreed that there is a need to strengthen the capacities of national courts. The discussion among the panellist also touched the Syrian conflict and the role of ICC towards its resolution. Stephen J. Rapp, Ambassador-at-Large for war crimes issues in the Office of Global Criminal Justice at the US Department of State, pointed out that previous examples of the role of International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia and the Special Court for Sierra Leone indicate that international criminal responsibility has the effect of remedying the society. However, the option of establishing a regional court could address some of the criticism of the ICC system, especially the issue of the jurisdiction and the Security Council deadlock, as pointed out by Professor Dr Ernest Petrič, President of the Conditional Court of the Republic of Slovenia. The panellist concluded that the international community and especially the five permanent members of the Security Council should seriously reconsider all the means at its disposal for the protection of the civilian population in Syria. Following the international criminal justice panel two of its panellists, Ambassador Christian Wenaweser and Richard Dicker, held separate lectures organized only for the RAUN students. Ambassador Wenaweser focused his lecture on the reform of the Security Council and all the difficulties associated with. He stressed that any major change in the functioning of the UN would require a change of the Charter, which is unlikely, since the five permanent members of the SC are comfortable with the status quo and would need to agree to such changes. Richard Dicker from Human Rights Watch dedicated his lecture to the role of non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in facilitating international peace and security. The watchful eye of NGOs and their continuous calls and reminders of the need to act does eventually result in positive changes and action by the UN bodies. However, the path to such changes is usually long, as the crisis in Syria indicates. Dicker noted that political reasons are halting any progress in resolving the conflict in Syria, being especially critical of the United States of America and their lukewarm position on the issue. After the bus ride back to Ljubljana, which was generously donated by the Slovenian Armed Forces, the first day continued at the Faculty of Law, University of Ljubljana, where the students were greeted by the Vice Dean of Economic Affairs at the Faculty of Law. In the afternoon all the student research project teams held presentations of their research topics. All the students have made great efforts in conducting research work and identifying the key issues of concern within each topic. While some teams indicated concern over the difficulties of choosing just one specific issue to write their research paper on, the majority of the teams have demonstrated good analytical work and satisfactory cooperation skills. The first day concluded with a reception for the RAUN students at the Lawyers Club at the Faculty of Law. Petr Voznica, Ambassador of the Czech Republic to Slovenia, Eva Tomič, Head of Department of Human Rights at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of Slovenia, and Mark Vlasic, lecturer at the Georgetown University Law School, joined the reception and chatted with the students about their professional experiences. As September 3, 2013
was also so the day of the Opening Ceremony for the European basketball championship Eurobasket 2013 in Ljubljana, several students attended the fun event in the centre of the city. The second day of the RAUN Ljubljana session began at the Military Post Edvard Peperko in Ljubljana, where Brigadier and Commander of the First Brigade of the Slovenian Armed Forces, Miha Škerbinc, held a lecture on the global strategic trends that continue to signal the need for well-trained armed forces. According to Brigadier Škerbinc these trends span from instability and international conflicts due to multi-polar distribution of power, lack of natural resources, proliferation of modern weapons and weapons of mass destruction to emergence of new ideologies, driven by religion, ethnic differences, nationalism or inequality, and natural disasters. Members of the First Brigade also presented the role of the Slovenian Armed Forces (hereafter SAF) in peacekeeping operations in Kosovo and Afghanistan. While the tasks of the SAF in Kosovo include the maintenance of a secure and stable environment and ensuring the conditions for the transfer of authority to civilian authorities, their tasks in Afghanistan focus on assisting in the development of the Afghan National Security Forces by training the Afghan National Army and National Police. The students were able to see the military post and the military equipment used by SAF in their peacekeeping operations. The visit at the military post concluded with a military lunch provided by the Association of societies of clubs MORiS. The afternoon of the second day was reserved for team work on research projects. Together with their coordinators the students discussed their specific research topics, assessed the first drafts of their research papers that were due on August 15, 2013 and prepared a plan for further research work. The deadline for the second draft of the research paper is October 5, 2013. After all the hard work on the research papers it was time to enjoy the sights of Ljubljana and socialize on a boat trip on the river Ljubljanica sponsored by the Student organization of the University of Ljubljana.
Further research work discussions on the student research papers were scheduled for the final day of the Ljubljana session. The students appreciated additional time to work together, as they are all keen to submit a relevant, interesting, well-researched and well-written final paper. All in all, the Ljubljana session provided the students an interesting overview of two different but not exclusive routes to restore international peace and security international criminal justice and peacekeeping. Students also had the opportunity to meet some of the highest-ranking UN officials and discuss with them the future of the UN. While they all recognized, that the UN system has its shortcomings, they also stressed the plethora of changes and improvements that the UN organs, specialized agencies and other organizations within the UN system have made in the last decades. The next session of RAUN will take place in Szeged on 17-19 October dealing with topics related to migration and asylum policies.