The Justice Rapid Response (JRR) workshop for forensic experts was officially opened in Seoul on 12th October 2014. The workshop was held from 12 – 14 October 2014 in Seoul at the kind invitation of the International Association of Forensic Sciences (IAFS), as well as the Asia-Pacific Medico-Legal Association (APMLA), on the margins of the 2014 World Forensic Festival.
The JRR workshop was officially opened by Dr. Heesun Chung, IAFS President,and Dr. Nak-Eun Chung, Chair of APMLA. Participants were welcomed by Andras Vamos-Goldman, Executive Director of Justice Rapid Response and John Ralston, Executive Director of the Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI).
The course is a collaborative project between JRR and IICI with the goal of increasing the pool of forensic experts that can be rapidly deployed to lead and participate in investigations into international crimes, particularly from the Asia-Pacific region. Previous training courses have been held all over the world, including in Germany, Argentina, Indonesia, Qatar, Colombia, South Africa and Botswana. Upon successful completion of the training, participants may apply to be certified on the JRR roster. If certified, they will thereafter be available for rapid deployment upon request by States, as well as the United Nations, the International Criminal Court, regional organizations, and other international institutions with the jurisdiction to carry out such investigations. To date, there have already been forty-two successful rapid deployments of experts to, for example, the UN Commissions of Inquiry for Guinea, Cote d’Ivoire, Libya, Syria, North Korea and the Central African Republic. There have also been deployments to the International Criminal Court (ICC), the MONUSCO Prosecution Support Cells in the Democratic Republic of the Congo, as well as national investigations in Mali, Colombia and Guatemala.
The JRR Executive Director, Mr. Andras Vamos-Goldman, also held a presentation on rapidly providing forensic expertise in response to man-made mass disasters during the World Forensic Festival.
Further information about JRR, the World Forensic Festival and the Institute for International Criminal Investigations may be found on the following websites:
JRR – www.justicerapidresponse.org; WFF – http://wff2014korea.org/; IICI – www.iici.info.