Wayamo Foundation

Judges´ retreat on judicial independence
2017-08-08 | Tanzania, Kanisa Road, Arusha, Tanzania, United Republic Of
As part of the Wayamo Foundation’s commitment to spreading knowledge and building capacity among judges in the East African region, the symposium was followed by a one-day retreat on 8 August (see programme), attended by fifteen judges from national, regional, and international courts. They shared experiences in tackling transnational organised crime, building effective judiciaries and courts, and protecting the independence of their institutions. By enhancing knowledge of the judiciary’s role in addressing serious and transnational crimes, the ultimate goal is to build competency to address such crimes domestically and an understanding of the complementary role of national, regional and international courts. The retreat was a powerful demonstration of the commitment shown by both the participants and the Wayamo Foundation to strengthen the rule of law through the fostering of strong, independent and effective judiciaries.

International Symposium: “Judicial Independence — A Foundation for Combatting International and Transnational Crime”
2017-08-07 | Tanzania, Kanisa Road, Arusha, Tanzania, United Republic Of
On 7 August, Arusha played host to an international symposium at the Mount Meru Hotel, aimed at exploring: judicial independence, integrity and ethics in the fight against international and transnational crime; case studies on the role of the judiciary in addressing human trafficking and corruption; and the relationship between domestic, regional, and international courts in combatting serious crimes (see programme).
As part of the Wayamo Foundation’s commitment to spreading knowledge and building capacity among judges in the East African region, the symposium was followed by a one-day retreat on 8 August (see programme), attended by fifteen judges from national, regional, and international courts. They shared experiences in tackling transnational organised crime, building effective judiciaries and courts, and protecting the independence of their institutions. By enhancing knowledge of the judiciary’s role in addressing serious and transnational crimes, the ultimate goal is to build competency to address such crimes domestically and an understanding of the complementary role of national, regional and international courts. The retreat was a powerful demonstration of the commitment shown by both the participants and the Wayamo Foundation to strengthen the rule of law through the fostering of strong, independent and effective judiciaries.

International Symposium and capacity building, Dakar, Senegal
2017-07-07 - 2017-07-08 | Senegal, Boulevard Martin Luther King, Dakar, Senegal
From 7-8 July 2017, Senegal’s capital of Dakar was the scene of a public symposium entitled, “Changing the Narrative – From Withdrawal to Constructive Engagement”.
Click here for the Symposium report.
Convened by the Wayamo Foundation and the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability (AGJA), the symposium brought together a number of leading stakeholders, experts, scholars, and practitioners in order to discuss a range of topics, including the current status of the relationship between African states and the International Criminal Court (ICC), possible reforms to improve the Court and interpreting the African Union’s (AU) ICC Withdrawal Strategy as a package of reforms, the role of hybrid mechanisms in prosecuting international crimes, combating impunity at a regional level, the coming into force of the crime of aggression, and the thorny issue of sequencing peace and justice.
As a continuation of their ongoing commitment to justice and accountability across the continent, the Wayamo Foundation and AGJA convened a capacity building workshop from 10-11 July, following their two-day public symposium. The two-day training workshop (see programme) brought together for the first time the members of the Special Criminal Court (SCC) of the Central African Republic (CAR). Participants included the judges, prosecutor and deputy prosecutor. Over the course of the two days, members of staff were given the opportunity to learn from the experiences and lessons of colleagues from other international organisations and courts, including the Extraordinary African Chambers (EAC) which had successfully prosecuted Hissène Habré in 2016.

Capacity building for military prosecutors to address the most serious and complex crimes under Nigerian criminal law, Lagos, Nigeria
2017-06-28 - 2017-06-30 | Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria
Lagos played host to Capacity-building for military prosecutors to address the most serious and complex crimes under Nigerian criminal law. From 28-30 June, Wayamo organised a capacity-building workshop for military investigators and prosecutors on ‘STRENGTHENING JUSTICE AND ACCOUNTABILITY IN NIGERIA’ at the Southern Sun Hotel Ikoyi in Lagos (see programme).
The three-day workshop was organised by the Wayamo Foundation, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability and was opened by General Yusuf Shalangwa, the Director of Legal Services of the Nigerian Army.
This June workshop is the first training session for Nigerian military investigators and prosecutors. The Chief of Army Staff has kindly agreed to send 20 investigators and prosecutors to the workshop. The objective of the ongoing training programme is to build capacity to address the most serious and complex crimes under Nigerian criminal law (international, transnational and terrorism- related crimes), including those crimes that potentially fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court.

International Symposium: “Fighting Impunity in East Africa – Ensuring accountability for international and transnational organised crimes”
2017-06-05 - 2017-06-08 | Tanzania, Kanisa Road, Arusha, Tanzania, United Republic Of
Arusha played host to an international symposium at the Mount Meru Hotel on 6 June 2017. The symposium aimed at exploring the current state of international criminal justice, its links with transnational organised crime, and national and regional efforts to deal with these crimes across East Africa. The event welcomed some 80 experts on international and transnational criminal law, academics, legal practitioners, the media and civil society organisations from across Africa and other parts of the world.
Click here for Symposium Report.
As part of the project’s launch activities, the Wayamo Foundation facilitated the first network meeting of Directors of Public Prosecution and Heads of Criminal Investigation Departments, as well as a two-day training session for prosecutors and investigators from Kenya, Rwanda, Tanzania and Uganda. By enhancing knowledge in the areas of the investigation and prosecution of international and transnational crimes, with special sessions on cyber-crime and financial crimes, the ultimate goal of such training is to build competency to address these crimes domestically.

South African-German Justice Dialogue
2017-03-27 - 2017-03-28 | South Africa, Pretoria
Taking place from 27 – 28 March 2017 in Pretoria, South Africa, the South African-German Justice Dialogue brought together South African, German and international experts in the areas of international criminal law and human rights, as well as 20 -25 participants, including diplomats, civil society representatives and academics.
The event has been organised by the Wayamo Foundation in cooperation with the German Federal Foreign Office.

The event commenced with welcoming remarks by Michael Koch, Director-General, Legal Department, Federal Foreign Office, Germany, and the keynote speech delivered by Navi Pillay, Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights (see programme).

Capacity building for prosecutors to address the most serious and complex crimes under Nigerian criminal law
2017-03-13 - 2017-03-15 | Nigeria, Lagos, Nigeria
Wednesday 15 March 2017 saw the close of the Wayamo Foundation’s second capacity-building workshop aimed at helping Nigerian prosecutors address the most serious and complex crimes under Nigerian criminal law. This forms part of a larger, ongoing programme to strengthen justice and accountability in Nigeria, which is being implemented by Wayamo, the International Nuremberg Principles Academy and the Africa Group for Justice and Accountability in collaboration with the Nigerian Federal Ministry of Justice.
Judging by the reactions of the participants and trainers alike, the workshop was a resounding success, with a hands-on, interactive, practice-oriented approach that allowed for some extremely lively and instructive discussion, further insight into the international dimensions of the work involved, and ample space for a series of challenging exercises, purpose-designed to hone their prosecution skills and test their ability to work in teams on real case scenarios.
