Young lawyers from across Bosnia and Herzegovina gathered in Sarajevo for a two-day event titled Dialogue Days on the Legacy of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), held in the lead-up to the 30th anniversary of the Srebrenica genocide.

The event was jointly organized by the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT) and the Association “PRAVNIK” through the Mechanism’s Outreach Programme for affected communities, with the support of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) in Bosnia and Herzegovina and the European Union (EU). 

The gathering offered a platform for exchanging views with representatives of international justice and for deepening understanding of transitional justice. Over the course of two days, more than 30 young legal professionals from all parts of BiH—alumni of educational programmes in transitional justice—engaged in open and substantive dialogue with leading figures from the field of international criminal justice.

On the first day, IRMCT President Judge Graciela Gatti Santana spoke about the current challenges facing international justice and the importance of the Mechanism in preserving the ICTY’s legacy.

Judge Gatti Santana emphasized: “Young lawyers play a key role in connecting international legal norms with the realities of local systems and the needs of communities affected by conflict.”

On the second day, participants heard from IRMCT Chief Prosecutor Serge Brammertz, who shared experiences from prosecuting war crimes and stressed the importance of cooperation between international and domestic judicial institutions.