Support to Justice Rapid Response for the fight against impunity

Description What is done in the programme or project and why, what results are pursued, who benefits from the activities and who are involved in the implementation.

Justice Rapid Response (JRR) is a cooperation body established in 2009 to improve the capacity of the international community to prosecute those responsible for the most serious international crimes and human rights violations. JRR contributes to the fight against impunity by providing states and international/regional organizations specialized assistance in duties relating to criminal investigations mainly in fragile states. To date, JRR has assisted in a total of 50 investigation missions, of which 47 has taken place in developing countries, including in Africa, Latin America and Central Asia. JRR cooperates closely with e.g. the International Criminal Court, UN Women, the UN Human Rights Council and the African Union. In the investigative missions and deployments JRR employs its roster consisting of more than 500 experts. Trained and certified by JRR, the experts represent various fields of expertise and various geographical areas, and nearly a half of all the experts come from the global south. JRR pays special attention to issues relating to sexual and gender-based violence and an important share of experts have been trained to investigate SGBV-related issues in conflict countries. In this project Finland's contribution (EUR 100,000) is earmarked to supporting the provision of investigative and prosecutorial assistance to states and international entities, specifically in Mali and Guatemala, as well as to the development of JRR's roster with a special focus on SGBV experts. The project will both benefit investigations in two developing countries and enable future deployments in other fragile states. Through its assistance in investigations, JRR helps to promote respect for human rights, socio-economic development and capacity enhancement in developing countries. The project will last until end of 2015. Previously Finland has supported JRR from resources dedicated to the fight against impunity and from official development assistance resources.