Nakuru Forum on Strengthening Complementarity
Following the announcement by the Chief Justice of the Republic of Kenya of his intention to establish an International and Organised Crimes Division of the Kenyan High Court, the Wayamo Foundation organised a forum with community leaders from Nakuru to discuss the IOCD, what form it would take, and questions that arise as to its jurisdiction, independence and nature. Nakuru is the largest city in Kenya’s Rift Valley and was one of the areas affected by Kenya’s 2007-08 post-election violence. Speakers: Dr. Sarah M. Kinyanjui, Coordinator, University of Nairobi, School of Law, Mombasa Campus Bobby Mkangi, Independent Legal Consultant Koigi wa Wamwere, Politician, Human Rights Activist, Journalist and Writer Photos by Matthew Rhodes, Wayamo.
Nairobi Public Debate on Security and Justice
On 21 August 2014, the Institute for War and Peace Reporting and the Wayamo Communication Foundation hosted a panel discussion on the struggle for justice and security in Kenya at Strathmore University in Nairobi. The debate was streamed live from the Strathmore University Auditorium at ReportingKenya.net. This was the seventh in a series of public debates hosted by IWPR and Wayamo under the ReportingKenya.net banner, and featured both Kenyan and international panellists including: • Bashir Haji Abdullaih, Security Analyst and retired military officer of the rank of a Major • Christopher Gitari, International Center for Transitional Justice (ICTJ), Nairobi • Tom Ojienda, former Commissioner of the Truth, Justice and Reconciliation Commission (TJRC), member of the Judicial Service Commission • Hanif Vally, former Chief Legal Adviser for the South African TRC and Deputy Director, Foundation for Human Rights, Johannesburg The panel discussion was open to the general public and moderator Bettina Ambach, Director of the Wayamo Foundation, invited the audience to ask questions and make comments throughout the debate. Click here for Photos (by Muthoni Njuki, Wayamo).
Nairobi Editorial Forum with Kenya Editors’ Guild
As Kenya’s press continues to cover contentious security issues in the aftermath of the Westgate terror attack and insecurity in Nairobi and along Kenya’s coast, IWPR and Wayamo partnered with Kenya’s Editors Guild to provide a forum for editors to candidly discuss the challenges faced by media organisations and the conflict-sensitive approaches adopted by media practitioners and how they balance with the public’s right to know. Photos by Kris Kotarski, Wayamo.
Myanmar Training on Professional Court and Police Reporting
The project sought to establish professional liaison mechanisms between the police, media and civil society, including training police in press work. This included training on how to hold regular press conferences, how to nominate spokespersons and how to write press releases. The next step was now to create a professional press and public information service. On the side of the journalists it was imperative to professionalise the sensitive area of police and court reporting. As part of the overall EU funded project: Support to Reform of the Myanmar Police Force in the Areas of Community Policing and Crowd Management – Component 3b (to improve the Myanmar Police Force´s accountability to and its liaison with civil society and the media), the Wayamo Foundation conducted two joint training sessions in July 2014 with journalists and police officers in Myanmar. The trainers were: Bettina Ambach, Director, Wayamo Foundation, Berlin, Germany Giuseppe Valiente, Parliamentary Correspondent for Sun Media, Ottawa, Canada Topics covered included: Role and responsibility of the Media Exercise with metaplan technique Can media do more than merely inform? The theory of “Peace Journalism”: Journalism of attachment versus professionally disengaged quality journalism? Checklist and new roles in conflict-sensitive Journalism: Traditional versus conflict-sensitive reporting
Nairobi Workshop on Transnational Crimes
On 1-2 July, the Wayamo Foundation hosted a workshop in Nairobi for investigators from the Kenya Police Criminal Investigation Department and prosecutors from the office of the Director of Public Prosecutions. The workshop featured special guest Robert J. Currie, Associate Professor of Law, Dalhousie University, Canada and Reiko Fujibayashi, United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC). On June 30, Wayamo hosted a workshop for court reporters and law students with professor Currie. Read the WORKSHOP REPORT. While international criminal law has focused on the prosecution of core international crimes—genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and aggression—our post-Cold War, post-9/11 world has also seen the growth of transnational crimes of international concern, such as terrorism, money laundering, organised crime, and human and narcotics trafficking. This has been accompanied by a focus on transnational crimes of domestic concern, which are domestic crimes that involve the jurisdiction of more than one state. With certain types of crimes are increasingly being perpetrated across national borders, a unified regional or global response is required. Such a response has taken the form of transnational criminal law, which covers both the international treaty obligations that require States to introduce specific substantive measures into domestic criminal law
International and Organised Crimes Division (ICD) of the Kenyan High Court
The IOCD is to have jurisdiction over international crimes as defined by the Rome Statute and the Kenyan International Crimes Act (for example, war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide) The IOCD will also handle transnational crimes, such as organised crime, piracy, terrorism, wildlife crimes, cybercrime, human trafficking, money-laundering and counterfeiting. Violence related to or arising out of elections, such as looting and incitement to violence, and ethnic and communal violence will also come under the new Court’s jurisdiction. The IOCD is a clear starting point for a process of change. With crime inexorably becoming more complex, more international and more serious, the Kenyan judicial system needs well-trained and well-equipped structures that are able to respond to this challenge. Wayamo, supported by start-up funds from the German Foreign Ministry, is assisting this process by: Providing training and capacity building services to relevant staff within the Kenyan Judiciary, the Office of the Directorate of Public Prosecutions, and the Office of Criminal Investigations in anticipation of their roles as judges, prosecutors, investigators, and administrators with the new division. Supporting continuous dialogue with civil society groups and local communities and responsible media coverage to assure accountability and meaningful public participation in the planning
