The International Institute of Humanitarian Law of Sanremo, Italy
The International Institute of Humanitarian Law is an independent, non-profit, humanitarian organization founded in 1970. Since its establishment, the Institute has its headquarters located in Villa Ormond, Sanremo (Italy), and a liaison office in Geneva (Switzerland).
The primary goal of the Institute is the promotion of International Humanitarian Law, Human Rights, Refugee Law and other related fields of law, through:
- the organization and delivery of regular and ad hoc courses, which, since 1970, have benefitted more than 15,000 participants from all over the world;
- the dissemination of materials and research; and
- the exchange of expertise and best practices among lecturers and participants of the courses.
The Institute is structured in two main departments: the Military Department, which organizes trainings and workshops on International Humanitarian Law; and the International Refugee Law and Migration Law Department (hereinafter “the Department”), which delivers courses on Internal Displacement, International Refugee Law, Migration, Statelessness, Advocacy for Protection, Reporting on Refugees for Journalists, Teaching Refugee Law and Thematic Courses on the Global Compact on Refugees.
Since 1982, the Department has delivered courses on International Refugee Law, which reached its 100th edition in October 2019. During the last 15 years, the Department has also expanded its offerings to include training on Internal Displacement, Statelessness and Migration.
Since its first Refugee Law Course almost 40 years ago, the Department has been proudly contributing to the Mandate of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), a role that has been recognized by the High Commissioner, as well as to other UN agencies by promoting International Law, policies, guidelines and best practices on the effective protection of persons of concern. The Institute’s contribution to the goals of the United Nations was also commended by the UN Secretary General for the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the Institute in 2020.
The Department made pledges at the Global Refugee Forum and is a proactive advocate for the promotion of the principles of the Global Compact on Refugees.
The outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic presented challenges to the traditional work of the Institute. In particular, the travel restrictions imposed by national authorities worldwide didn’t allow the Institute to deliver its face-to-face workshops, traditionally held at its headquarters in Sanremo, Italy, or in loco, based on the specific requests of governments.
In order to mitigate the negative impact of the pandemic, the Department promptly adapted its training program in light of the current scenario. By restructuring and reconceiving its program, the Department was able to continue providing capacity building opportunities to its audience, and to transfer to online setup the principles that make its workshops unique: geographical and professional diversity of participants and facilitators; awareness raising on forced displacement and related issues; and, most importantly, advocacy-driven approach for enhancing the protection of refugees, IDPs, stateless people, migrants and host communities.
The Department has established its Academic Unit, which liaises with universities, research and training institutes and governmental training institutions, on the design and delivery of tailored training programmes and systematic planning of the supporting of participants in the Department’s Courses.
In 2020, the Department delivered 11 online courses targeting which benefited 403 participants from 96 countries, mainly government officials, members of the civil society, academia and staff of international organizations. The quality of the Institute’s offerings is reflected in the feedback provided by participants, who rated the online courses with a strongly positive satisfaction grade of 9.08/10 (on a scale from 0 to 10). In addition, 98% of participants confirmed that they will recommend the courses to their fellow colleagues, and 100% of them expressed their intention to apply to other courses offered by the Institute. The large majority of attendees emphasized the applicability of the knowledge and skills acquired in the workshops to their professional roles.
In 2021, the Department expanded the offering of regular courses in online format given the increasing demand for capacity-building from government officials, civil society and academics worldwide. The Department’s Calendar of 22 Online Courses is attached with this Proposal. To allow extensive access to individuals from different parts of the world, who are not always fluent in English, the courses are delivered in different languages, including English, French, Spanish, Arabic and Russian. Mindful of the global outreach of the Courses, they are also delivered in different time zones, so as to be able to provide the opportunity to participate to as many participants as possible.
Based on the target audience, some workshops focus on policy drafting and implementation, whereas other trainings are tailor-made to place emphasis on topics such as child protection and gender discrimination in identification. The content of the courses is regularly updated with the latest developments of the legal framework at international, regional, and, when relevant as best practice, national levels.
Representation of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees in Serbia
The Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Refugees was established on 14 December 1950 by the United Nations General Assembly. The following year, on 28 July the United Nations Convention relating to the Status of Refugees – the legal foundation of helping refugees and the basic statute guiding UNHCR’s work – was adopted. In 1954, UNHCR won the Nobel Peace Prize for its groundbreaking work in Europe. Today UNHCR works in a total of 132 countries.
The primary purpose of UNHCR is to safeguard the rights and well-being of people who have been forced to flee. Together with partners and communities, UNHCR work to ensure that everybody has the right to seek asylum and find safe refuge in another country. UNHCR also strive to secure lasting solutions. For over half a century, UNHCR has helped well over 50 million of people to restart their lives, including refugees, returnees, stateless people, the internally displaced and asylum-seekers.
Providing emergency help to those forced to flee is often the first step towards long-term protection and rehabilitation. To meet these and other operational needs, UNHCR has developed a global network of suppliers, specialist agencies and partners. Projects can range from dispatching emergency teams to the scene of a crisis, providing emergency food, shelter, water and medical supplies, and arranging major airlifts for a large exodus of refugees or a flotilla of small boats for smaller numbers of fleeing civilians. Among a host of other programmes, there are projects to help protect the environment, build schools and raise awareness of such problems as HIV/AIDS.
Our activities to promote refugee protection include:
- Promoting accession to the 1951 Convention relating to the Status of Refugees and its 1967 Protocol, to the 1954 Convention relating to the Status of Stateless Persons and to the 1961 Convention on the Reduction of Statelessness. In 1999
- Assisting States to enact or revise national refugee legislation, including administrative instructions and operational guidelines, and to implement national refugee status determination procedures
- Strengthening relevant administrative and judicial institutions, training staff of government and non-governmental agencies, and liaising with relevant human rights bodies
UNHCR is also involved in:
- Research and advice on new laws and regulations affecting people of concern
- Technical and financial support for law schools, governmental agencies (including the police and the military) and other institutes to develop refugee law courses
- Support for human rights and refugee rights advocacy groups, legal aid centres and non-governmental organizations with an interest in refugee protection.
Building on the 2018 Global Compact on Refugees and the pledges made at the Global Forum on Refugees (GRF) in December 2019, the UN Refugee Agency in the Republic of Serbia continues to support the Government of the Republic of Serbia in:
- Strengthening the national asylum system, ensuring quality asylum procedures, promotion of a fair and effective asylum system and advocacy for the rights of refugees and asylum-seekers. Advocacy for improved mixed migration management and establishing effective protection-sensitive border management,
- Providing protection to the most vulnerable groups among refugees and asylum-seekers with special focus on unaccompanied children,
- Advancing various aspects of inclusion and integration of persons who received international protection in the country,
- Strengthening self-reliance of the persons of concern, through economic inclusion and integration into mainstream education,
- Support to the authorities to respond to the basic needs and provide the necessary services,
- Institutional cooperation to advance inclusion and integration of persons granted international protection in the country,
- Addressing the problems of persons at risk of statelessness and preventing reocurrence as well as continuous advocacy for legislative changes,
- Implementing durable solutions for the most vulnerable refugees from former SFR Yugoslavia through the Regional Housing Programme,
- Finding solutions for the most vulnerable internally displaced persons.
Law Faculty of the University of Belgrade, Serbia
The Faculty of Law, established in 1808 as part of the University of Belgrade, is one of the largest law faculties in the region, with a long tradition of being at the forefront of the country’s legal education. Since its founding, it has educated almost 50,000 law graduates and more than 5,000 magistri iuris, masters of laws and doctores iuris, as well as hundreds of specialists in various areas. A great many Faculty of Law alumni have become recognized experts and scholars in all branches of law, law professors and high-ranking government officials.
In order to meet the challenges of educating a large number of students and maintaining high academic standards at the same time, a great variety of teaching methods is used, ranging from lectures, seminars, study and expert groups (for advanced students), mentor work to various other modern methods of teaching. The Faculty has been dedicated for a long time to developing and strengthening the practical methods of lecturing in order to equip its students with the necessary practical knowledge and skills required to enter and quickly advance in their careers in the ever more competitive and transforming labor market.
Belgrade Faculty of Law has a developed and fruitful international cooperation. It participates in numerous international scientific projects, both in the capacity of a coordinator and a partner, including EU-funded projects. The Faculty has established worldwide academic and professional relations and cooperation with law schools in Europe, the USA and Asia. In addition, it has developed prolific relations with various international centers, foundations and organizations that promote the improvement of legal studies. The Faculty is particularly proud of its most recent endeavor – the Specialists’ Course on International Refugee Law – that has resulted from 15 years long fruitful cooperation with UNHCR Representation in Serbia and the renowned Sanremo International Institute of Humanitarian Law.