Welcome to the Official Website of the
Institute for International Criminal Investigations.
The Institute for International Criminal Investigations (IICI) is an international organization of professional investigators, military officers, lawyers and academics dedicated to training professionals in the investigation of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity, and to the deployment of teams of investigators to the scenes of war crimes around the world.
The IICI meets the challenge of 21st Century international criminal justice through its International Investigator Course (IIC), a practical and comprehensive training that combines distance learning and a two-week on-site program to teach the international investigator skills vital to the investigation of genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity. The IICI also maintains a roster of personnel who have completed its training program and are available to respond to crime scenes in a timely manner to gather, preserve and protect physical evidence and the testimony of victims and witnesses.
The IICI can design and implement specific projects to meet the needs of ad hoc and hybrid tribunals and truth commissions or fact finding bodies.
The Need for the Institute
"During my term of office as Chief Prosecutor for the two UN Tribunals, one of the most difficult issues was finding suitably qualified investigators. In the first place we had to have regard to both geographic and gender balance - both are crucial in any international office. There were frustrating delays in locating suitable people and further delays on the part of those who were chosen to make arrangements to leave the work they were doing in their home countries. And, I need hardly add that time is of the essence in any war crimes investigation. In the case of many of the investigators we employed there was a need for re-training - that also caused delays in getting them into the field."
Richard Goldstone, Justice of the South African Constitutional Court
The Spirit of the Institute
"Justice and truth are necessary in order to achieve peace. Impunity for perpetrators of international crimes, and for systematic and widespread violations of fundamental human rights, is a betrayal of our human solidarity with the victims, to whom we owe a duty of justice and remembrance. If we cannot lessen the suffering of our fellow creatures, let us at least commit ourselves to ensuring that their tormentors have not acted with impunity. To remember, and to bring perpetrators to justice, is a responsibility we have to the prevention of future victimization. Failure to do so is a betrayal of our own humanity."
Prof. M. Cherif Bassiouni