UWC LLM Student Awarded the Prestigious Marija and Mirjan Damaška Scholarship

Damilola Theophilus Akinmuwagun, a LLM student at the African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice (ACTCJ), Faculty of Law, University of the Western Cape received the prestigious Marija and Mirjan Damaška Scholarship to attend the Atrocity Crimes Prevention and Human Rights Course held at the Dubrovnik Atrocity Prevention School, Inter-University Centre (IUC), Dubrovnik, Croatia, between 12th – 17th May, 2024.

The course centred on the responsibility of States and the international community to protect (R2P) humanity from mass atrocity crimes—genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes and ethnic cleansing. R2P is a developing principle of international law and it is principally contained in the 2005 World Summit Outcome Document. The course drew participants from Nigeria, Columbia, Norway, Afghanistan, USA, Syria, Germany, Denmark, Pakistan, Côte d’Ivoire, Myanmar, Turkey, UK, Australia and the host country, Croatia.

Among other things, participants were exposed to the effectiveness of different types of mass atrocities prevention strategies such as preventive diplomacy, field operations, humanitarian action, civil society action, economic inducements etc.

Judge Graciela Gatti Santana, President, UN International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals, Prof Ivan Šimonović, the Croatian Ambassador to the UN, were some of the guest lecturers of the course. Other course facilitators included experts from NGOs including the Global Centre for R2P, former UN Special Rapporteurs, leading academics, seasoned diplomats, and top officials of the government of various countries around the world.

The rich blend of the resource persons and the diversity of the participants made the course special. It was a unique opportunity for Damilola to share the African perspective on issues of mass atrocity prevention, transitional justice and international criminal justice with such an eminent audience, who were all very impressed and eager to listen to his views.

“I learnt how to use atrocity prevention lens to analyse conflict and violence situations in any given society. The course greatly enhanced my knowledge and it is a giant step forward in my goal of contributing to frontline efforts of combating mass atrocity in Africa and beyond. I am deeply grateful to have been awarded the scholarship.”

The course convenor, Professor Martin Mennecke of the University of Southern Denmark, and the IUC Secretary General, Ms Nada Bruer Ljubišić expressed their delight at the contributions made by Damilola throughout the course.

The old city of Dubrovnik is on the UNESCO World Heritage List. Some of the side attractions during the course included tour of the old city, dinner at a local restaurant, visit to the Adriatic Sea-Side, trip to the Croatian War Museum, and climbing the Dubrovnik city walls which run uninterrupted for 1940 metres (6365 feet) in length and reach a height estimated at 25 metres (83 feet).

“I am grateful to the African Centre for Transnational Criminal Justice, the Faculty of Law and UWC for facilitating my attendance and participation at the course. This is just one of the numerous benefits and exposure I have gained since I began my postgraduate studies at UWC. I will strongly recommend the LLM in Transnational Criminal Justice at UWC to anyone interested in having an exciting postgraduate experience in an intellectually stimulating environment in and outside the classroom”.