Centre for International Courts and Tribunals

Description

The Centre on International Courts and Tribunals was established at the Faculty of Laws, University College London (UCL), in 2002.

It serves as the London home of the Project on International Courts and Tribunals (PICT), which was established in 1997 by FIELD in London and the Center on International Cooperation at New York University.

As a part of PICT, the Centre at UCL addresses the legal, institutional and financial issues arising from the increase in the number of international courts and tribunals and the growing number of cases before these courts. The Centre’s overall mission is to provide a forum to promote ideas that contribute toward more effective, equitable and efficient delivery of international justice. The activities of the Centre contribute to the full range of PICT activities, including:

• Disseminating information on international judicial bodies and international initiatives to promote the rule of law, in particular through the News section of the PICT web site;
• Research into policy, legal and operational issues in the administration of international justice in the twenty-first century, such as the composition and independence of the international bench;
• Training of lawyers, especially from developing countries, in the functioning of international courts and tribunals, both through regional and international training courses.
• Teaching on the LLM offered by the Faculty of Law at UCL, and providing doctoral supervision and post-doctoral placements.
• Promoting dialogue and exchange of experience on and among international judicial bodies on policy and operational issues, through conferences, colloquia and seminars.
• Providing technical assistance, as appropriate, on matters related to the work of international judicial bodies. PICT and the Centre have been established against the background of an increase in the number of international courts and tribunals at the global and regional levels.

The emergence of an international judiciary gives rise to a wide range of legal and policy issues, from the independence of the international judiciary to the relations between international and national courts, as well as new international issues such as forum shopping, lis pendens and res judicata.

It is against this context that PICT and the Centre have the following aims and objectives:

• to facilitate access to and transparency in the work of international courts and tribunals;
• to enhance the effectiveness of international courts and tribunals;
• to promote greater knowledge about international courts and tribunals; and
• to promote international peace through international justice and rule of law.

Offers funding

No, this infrastructure does not provide funding.

Founding year

2002

Contact details

On the map

Go to larger version of this map

Categorisation

Type

Project Tags

University affiliation(s)

University College London (UCL)
Gower St
London
WC1E 6BT