Today, 23 April 2021, the Registrar of the International Criminal Court(“ICC” or the “Court”), Mr Peter Lewis, and Dean of Ewha Womans University, the School of Law(“Ewha Law School”), Professor Dr. Hyon-Mi Chong, signed a Memorandum of Understanding (“MoU”) to strengthen cooperation.
The MoU was prepared to enhance the ICC’s continuous effort to achieve equitable geographical representation and gender balance of professional staff in under-represented and non-represented State Parties. In light of the COVID 19 pandemic, the signing ceremony took place virtually.
His excellency Yeondoo Jeong, the Ambassador of the Republic of Korea to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, joined the virtual ceremony to celebrate the signing of the MoU. Ambassador Jeong stressed, in his congratulate remarks, that “the agreement will be instrumental to further strengthen the long history of cooperation between the ICC and the Republic of Korea”.
“Today’s partnership with Ewha Womans University is particularly meaningful because it is one of the top priorities of the Court to ensure gender balance,” said the Registrar Peter Lewis. Mr Lewis added that “the Court can benefit a lot from receiving competent Korean nationals and Korea’s capacity to advocate International Criminal Law.”
The Dean of Ewha Law School, Professor Dr. Chong, stressed that “the MoU will benefit both of our organizations and help us to grow further in the coming years. Ewha Law School looks forward to add value to the work of the ICC, with its outstanding human resources and expertise in International Criminal Law”.
With the MoU, the ICC will formally establish the cooperation framework with Ewha Law School to raise greater awareness and cultivate expertise in the mandate and activities of the ICC and to exchange knowledge, experience and expertise by participating in the ICC’s internship and visiting professional programmes.
Ewha Womans University was established as Department of Law in Ewha College of Law and Politics in 1950 and became Ewha College of Law in 1996. In 2009, Ewha Law School became the first and only women’s law school in Korea, dedicated to nurturing female legal professionals of Korea and around the world.
The ICC is the first permanent, treaty-based, international criminal court established to help end impunity for the perpetrators of the most serious crimes of concern to the international community, namely war crimes, crimes against humanity, genocide and the crime of aggression.