On the occasion of Human Rights Day, the Centre for the Study and Practice of Conflict Resolution hosted a well attended seminar  entitled "The International Criminal Court: Law, Politics and Conflict Resolution". The Centre's students were joined by students from the Faculty of Law and the Department of International Relations in discussing salient issues in contemporary international criminal justice.

The seminar was opened by Dr Elena Grech, Head of Delegation of the European Commission Representation Office who spoke about the EU's pivotal role in promoting the work of the International Criminal Court (ICC). In the first panel, Dr Chris Soler identified and explained the ICC's numerous contributions to the development of international human rights law, while Ms Teresa Quadt argued for the need to rethink the elements which constitute Crimes Against Humanity within the Statute of the ICC.

In the second panel Prof Susan Hirsch addressed the issue of how the relationship between the ICC and the Rule of Law from a conflict analysis perspective may be best understood. This was followed by Dr Omar Grech's analysis of the ICC's Victim Oriented Approach and the extent to which the ICC adopts a restorative justice perspective.

The seminar was concluded with remarks by Dr Julie Shedd who highlighted some of the main themes which emerged from the seminar.