The CIJA Model – an example of public-private partnership in justice

CIJA’s origins, mandate, operational modus operandi, leadership and staffing are forensically explored in CIJA Executive Director Dr William H. Wiley’s contribution to Quality Control in Fact-Finding. The chapter examines the key challenges plaguing the field of international criminal justice – chief among them the inability of public sector bodies to physically access areas amid ongoing conflict and collect the evidence required for successful criminal prosecutions. “The system of international(ised) criminal justice might be saved in something like its current form – and indeed strengthened – only through the establishment of effective public–private partnerships at the investigative stage,” Dr Wiley writes in the 44-page chapter. Civil society actors can provide the agility and cost effectiveness which public sector bodies such as international(ised) courts often lack, however they need to have the capacity and willingness to work to a criminal-evidence standard in service of public sector bodies. The article also details CIJA’s relationship with public sector investigative and prosecutorial authorities, noting their eagerness to explore this shift in power dynamic as demonstrated by increasing requests for assistance as well as use of CIJA evidence in the courtrooms. 

Reference: William H. Wiley, “International(ised) Criminal Justice at a Crossroads: The Role of Civil Society in the Investigation of Core International Crimes and the ‘CIJA Model´” in Morten Bergsmo and Carsten Stahn (editors), Quality Control in Fact-Finding, Second Edition, Torkel Opsahl Academic EPublisher, Brussels, 2020