Symposium Report
In February and March of this year, the Wayamo Foundation concluded a series of five key events (two meetings and three activities) in so many days in Nairobi, Kenya, as part of its “Fighting Impunity in East Africa” project, an initiative funded by the German Foreign Ministry.
International Justice Symposium
The International Justice Symposium, held under the banner of “Networks of Accountability: Justice for International and Transnational Organised Crimes”, was opened with welcoming remarks by, among others, Luis Franceschi, Dean of Strathmore Law School, George Kinoti, Kenya’s Director of Criminal Investigations, and Githu Muigai, the country’s outgoing Attorney-General. The moderators and panellists were eminent experts drawn from a wide variety of fields, and included: Adewale E. Iyanda, Office of the Legal Counsel, African Union Commission; two representatives from the International Criminal Court (ICC) in the Hague, Philipp Ambach, Chief of the Victims Participation and Reparations Section, and Gloria Atiba Davis, Head of the Gender and Children Unit in the Office of the Prosecutor; Aimée Comrie, Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Officer at the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime; FBI Supervisory Special Agent, Jennifer Barnard; Christine Alai from Physicians for Human Rights; AGJA members Betty Kaari Murungi, Professor Tiyanjana Maluwa, and Fatiha Serour; and a judicial trio consisting of former Judges Navi Pillay and Richard Goldstone (both AGJA members), and Judge Isaac Lenaola of the Kenyan Supreme Court and East African Court. The topics were thought-provoking, the comments frank, direct and, at times, hard-hitting, and the impact undeniable, as was plain from the string of reports carried in the social media and national press.
The stated objectives of the Symposium were to discuss the status of international criminal justice, analyse transnational organised crimes, and explore the linkages between the two sets of crimes. The Symposium was followed by a training session for a select group of senior East African investigators and prosecutors, a high-level network meeting of Directors of Public Prosecution and Heads of Criminal Investigations from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda, as well as a special media component for journalists from the region.
Click here for symposium pictures.
Within the framework of its “Fighting Impunity in East Africa” project, an initiative funded by the German Foreign Ministry, Wayamo organises judges retreats, workshops for investigators and prosecutors in international criminal justice and transnational organised crime, as well as public outreach activities.
