International Criminal Justice Day was celebrated by the Levan Alexidze Foundation in cooperation with the ICC, GAU and TSU ICL Centre
17 July – the International Criminal Justice Day had been celebrated by a group of professionals under Academician Levan Alexidze’s leadership in Georgia since 2012.
The Levan Alexidze Foundation, carrying on with the professional legacy of the great scientist and public figure, upheld this tradition too, in 2021 joining the forces with the ICC Country Office, GAU and the Director of the ICL Centre at TSU established on Professor Levan Alexidze’s initiative.
The 2021 celebrations – 10th in a range as of 2012 were held in a hybrid mode. The Georgian-American University hosted in an open air the Life after Conflict Exhibition. ICC’s Life After Conflict exhibition represents a photo-series of the people affected by the 2008 August war. The National Geographic award-wining photographer Pete Muller, when travelling to Georgia to document and tell visual stories of the experiences, met Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary Levan Alexidze, also participant of the 17 July 1998 historic event in Rome, along with the ICL Centre Director at TSU and participant of the ICC Preparatory Commission. The exhibition was honoured by the representatives of Georgian authorities, academia and international organisations.
The subsequent academic discussion followed online, unifying the audience from different parts of the world. The discussion with the involvement of ICC’s representative in Georgia Dr Kaupo Kand, Georgia’s official representative at the Assembly of States Parties of the Rome Statute Mr Giorgi Nakashidze, Registered Assistant Counsel at the ICC Mr Onisime Tskhomelidze, Fulbright Scholar at Michigan State University Dr. Saba Pipia was inaugurated by Prof. Dr. Marina Meskhi and moderated by Prof. Dr. Ketevan Khutsishvili, ICL Centre Director at TSU.
Considering the opportunities and challenges in the prism of ICC, particular attention was made at the ongoing process of reformation of the ICC, particular role of legal counsel in representing victims before the ICC, as well as the law making power of the ICC in respect of statehood. The value of accurate academic debates with highly qualifies specialists facilitating the correct management of expectations was specially noted during the academic discussion.
From the beginning of 2021, the Levan Alexidze Foundation has been dedicating its events that promote human rights and democratic standards to the commemoration of the 95th jubilee of the late Levan Alexidze, a highly respected scientist, professor, public figure, Ambassador Extraordinary and Plenipotentiary, founder of the International Law School of Georgia, Chief Adviser to the President of Georgia on International Law Issues, and Member of the Georgian National Academy of Sciences.
