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Model International Criminal Court

2020-2-DE04-KA105-0197762020Youth mobilityfinalizedGood practice
Countries: DE|EL|RS|PL|BA|HR|FR · Grant: €71,939.06
EU Citizenship, EU awareness and DemocracyHome and justice affairs (human rights & rule of law)New innovative curricula/educational methods/development of training courses

Objectives

The Model International Criminal Court (MICC) project was a simulation project of the International Criminal Court for young people aged between 15 and 19 as well as for multipliers of youth work from Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Serbia, Poland, France, Greece, and Germany. The goal of this project was the further development, application, and dissemination of methodical-didactic tools of MICC in the field of historical human rights education. The methods were disseminated especially in the Western Balkan countries due to less access to such methods in the region. Multipliers that usually do not have access to educational offers because of cultural, social, and economical obstacles were trained with these methods. Therefore, youth workers had a chance to exchange their experiences with methods of non-formal education and to network during one seven-day training in Greece (February 2022). Afterward, some of the multipliers had a chance to test and evaluate these methods during the two youth exchanges, one in Greece (February 2022) and one in Poland (May 2022). The basis for the teaching methods of the project is on the one hand the 17 years long experience in the implementation of MICC project and on the other hand the developed methods of the “JustNow – A Toolbox for Teaching Human Rights”, which has been developed by the Kreisau-Initiative e.V. and partners of the MICC project. Our participants have been taught and supported in the application of the methods in their local communities and contexts. In addition, young people and youth workers had the possibility to gain a deeper understanding of human rights education and the historical background of the trials that have been simulated. Also, they had the possibility to learn more about international criminal law in order to achieve a deeper learning experience. The young people slipped into the roles of prosecutors, defense-lawyers, judges, and journalists during the youth exchange and dealt with historical cases that were heard before international tribunals (Nuremberg Tribunal, ICTY, and the ICTR). With the MICC project and its accompanying activities, the participants were introduced to central problems of human rights protection and fundamental concepts of justice and rule of law. MICC encouraged young people from these countries to take on the topic of human rights and their implementation in the context of international criminal law. In this way, they got familiar with the internal affairs of justice. The participants learned to look at their daily life with open eyes and to see themselves as part of an active civil society. This awakened the European awareness of the young participants and highlights the achievements of a democratic and peaceful European confederation of states. Our participants were empowered to actively stand up for the maintenance of democratic principles. They learned different perspectives through critical reflection and exchange, especially in handling various political and geopolitical issues in Europe. With the help of the multinational character and the group work, MICC established a basis for intercultural dialogue and mutual understanding between the participants of different nationalities, religions, and cultures. This project encouraged the participating institutions to cooperate internationally beyond just cooperation in the framework of this project. Almost all planned project objectives have been fulfilled and exceeded the set target. Unfortunately, the big impact on the implementation of the project had COVID-19 – which for example influenced that we were not able to have participants from France attending the youth exchanges. Still, all project partners have gained experience in risk-management and under all safety measures organize three project activities with 132 participants without any case of COVID-19 positive tested person.

Project partners (7)