President of International Criminal Court (ICC), Judge Piotr Hofmanski, will pay a three-day working visit to Ghana, his office has announced.
The visit will commence on Monday 26 and run through to Wednesday, 28 September 2022, and will include a public lecture at Ghana Institute of Management and Public Administration, GIMPA Faculty of Law in Accra.
The visit by the ICC President to Ghana will honour an invitation extended to him in September 2021 by Dr. Kwaku Agyeman-Budu, as the then Head of Law Centres (he is now Dean of the Faculty of Law at GIMPA), during his visit to the ICC President’s office in The Hague, the Netherlands.
Piotr Hofmanski is the President of the International Criminal Court (ICC). At the meeting with Dr. Agyeman-Budu during his visit to The Hague last year, the ICC President affirmed the ICC’s position to pursue the terms of a Memorandum of Understanding the ICC signed with the African Centre of International Criminal Justice (ACICJ) at the GIMPA Faculty of Law, of which Dr. Agyeman-Budu was the Head.
Judge Piotr Hofmanski said that, like his immediate predecessor, the Nigerian Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, he looked forward to honouring the invitation extended to him to visit Ghana in 2022 and to delivering a public lecture on international criminal justice in the annual ACICJ public lecture series at the GIMPA law faculty.
It will be recalled that on 15 October 2019, as the then ICC president, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji delivered a public lecture at GIMPA, at the invitation of Agyeman-Budu and the ACICJ. This was attended by His Excellency Nana Addo Dankwa Akufo-Addo, the president of the Republic of Ghana.
ICC and ACICJ
The International Criminal Court (ICC) and the African Centre of International Criminal Justice (ACICJ) at the GIMPA Faculty of Law have an existing arrangement which allows the two institutions to co-operate closely in the fight against impunity on the African continent.
The aim of the arrangement is to deepen understanding and appreciation of the role and work of the ICC within the international criminal law and justice architecture.
GIMPA and ICC sign an MoU at The Hague in 2019
The agreement was signed by representatives of the two institutions on 6 December 2019 in The Hague, on the sidelines of the Assembly of State Parties which took place that month.
The new relationship that was instituted between the ICC and the ACICJ at GIMPA will lead to the development of courses focusing on international criminal law, participation in the ICC internship programme by GIMPA students, and participation in the ICC visiting professionals programme by GIMPA students and faculty.
It will also promote exchange of speakers and collaborative initiatives such as lectures, seminars, events, research and surveys. The agreement is for a five-year period and is subject to renewal by the two sides after the initial period lapses.
