UpRights’ Legal Adviser Marin Van Hove gave a presentation entitled Using International Criminal Law to Support Refugee Protection: Lessons Learned from UpRights’ Article 15 Communication this month, as part of the 3rd Online Course on Advocacy for Protection offered by the International Institute of Humanitarian Law, Sanremo.

The presentation provided an analysis from the perspective of international criminal law, and an overview of interplay of the different applicable legal paradigms as relevant for refugee law or factual situations. This drawing from UpRights’ and its cooperation partners’ previous work submitting an Article 15 communication to the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, alleging war crimes and crimes against humanity committed by armed groups against refugees and migrants in Libyan detention centres.

The presentation explained how refugees and migrants are part of the nexus to armed conflict, both as contextual element of war crimes and for exercising ICC jurisdiction pursuant to UNSC Resolution 1970 (2011). It also illustrated that individual criminal responsibility under international criminal law and the International Criminal Court model may in some cases reach further than state responsibility under international human rights law and extraterritorial jurisdiction.

The International Institute of Humanitarian Law’s Online Course on Advocacy for Protection presents key elements to support transformation of policies and public perception of refugees, internally displaced persons, stateless people and migrants. Based on protection principles from international refugee, human rights and humanitarian law, the course assesses challenges and opportunities in protection situations and identifies stakeholders towards which advocacy interventions can be addressed. This year’s edition of the course focused on helping refugees and grass-roots civil society attending the UNHCR’s Global Refugee Forum this month.

UpRights is thankful to have had the opportunity to contribute to this course as part of the organisations’ cooperation.