In continuation of the efforts of the KCIL under the Justice Resilience Initiative in the Kurdistan Region of Iraq (KRI), and with support from the German Federal Foreign Office’s funding through IFA (Institut für Auslandsbeziehungen), an initiative was undertaken to introduce students at the Colleges of Law in KRI universities to essential concepts of international criminal law. During the two-day period of 7–8 April 2025, the College of Law at Garmian University facilitated a series of instructional sessions on genocide, various aspects of international criminal law, and the classification of international crimes for 40 students in the fourth and fifth grades. Furthermore, draft bills prepared by the KCIL experts were introduced to the students, which included the Anti-Discrimination Law and the Law on Combating and Punishment of International Crimes in the KRI.
At the onset of the first day, a brief presentation on the crime of genocide was delivered by (Hawre Ahamad), the KCIL Executive Director. His lecture centered on the origins of genocide within international criminal law and conventions, in addition to several discussions concerning states, including the Kurdish nation, that have been subject to acts of genocide. Subsequently, Dr. Awara Hussein, Dean of the College of Law at Halabja University, a member of the KCIL Executive Board, delivered a lecture on crimes against humanity. To expand the essence of his lecture, he mentioned the legacy of the courts of Rwanda, Yugoslavia, and the International Criminal Court (ICC) for the students participating, in how to prosecute and charge perpetrators of crimes against humanity.
In addition, the second day of the classes was devoted to introducing the draft bills prepared by the center for the Kurdistan Parliament, so that students could familiarize themselves with the concepts of the legislative process and the roots of the legal issues in Kurdish society. From this perspective, Dr. Asos Brakhas, University Professor and the KCIL Executive Board Member, introduced the students to the anti-discrimination bill and the necessity of this bill in limiting the phenomena that are increasing due to discrimination and hate speech. Then, Dr. Twana Abdulrahman, the KCIL Executive Board member, unveiled the students to the bill on the Law on Combating and Punishment of International Crimes in the KRI. It is worth mentioning that he initially provided a comprehensive discussion on the prosecution of international crimes within the framework of domestic law. He also discussed the factors that motivated the preparation of this bill, which fills an important legal gap in domestic law in the prosecution of international crimes and is consistent with the current legal perspective on the application of international law to the prosecution of international crimes. In parallel, all the drafted bill articles of the two bills were discussed and analyzed by the students. In turn, some of the students shared their comments on the bills, which were recorded by the project team to further enrich the content of the bills.