PJI’s capacity building through partnership method empowers local justice actors to challenge impunity for grave crimes, advance justice for victims where they live, and build resilience to sustain peace and democracy long term.
Strategic
PJI provides practical support to serious crime prosecutors, victim representatives, and investigators because they are in the best position to open pathways to justice for victims where they live. Partnering with our local colleagues to give victims ownership in the justice process can have a transformative impact on the communities where the crimes have been committed.
Sustained
PJI experts collaborate with national counterparts at their request in their current case files, often helping them to do what they thought they could not. Drawing on deep wells of practical experience, we assist our colleagues in overcoming real and perceived obstacles to investigation and prosecution of grave crimes. PJI experts provide sustained technical support for collecting, organising, analysing and preserving evidence to prosecute complex criminal cases. As career practitioners, PJI experts offer horizontal, case-based mentoring throughout the process of preparing and prosecuting international crime cases. We craft and adapt tools for investigation, evidentiary analysis, and courtroom presentation in accordance with national and international legal frameworks.
Locally-Driven
Specifically tailored to meet our local partners’ needs as they identify them, tools and technical support may include, as examples, techniques for: complex criminal investigation and litigation; prosecuting cold cases where forensic evidence is lacking; consolidating and organising mass quantities of evidence into a powerful case presentation; analysing evidence to identify gaps which can be filled prior to case file finalisation; case prioritisation in situations where victims have long awaited justice; synchronising international crimes case strategies with organised crime case strategies; harmonising international and local law in a criminal indictment; or designing a legal strategy to address mass atrocity crimes in multiple jurisdictions. Through this locally driven process, skills and expertise are transferred to national peers in a sustainable and respectful manner, preserving local ownership and independence. Having worked with peers in a variety of national contexts, PJI experts can share successful experiences witnessed first-hand in post-conflict jurisdictions around the world, amplifying the impact of our interventions.
Connected
With a focus on supporting our local colleagues and the victims and communities they serve, PJI experts draw on international networks of accountability professionals, including forensic anthropologists, criminal and military analysts, security experts, psychologists, statisticians, archivists, investigators, private attorneys, communications experts, and prosecutors. PJI regularly collaborates with other international institutions and partners such as UN Women, No Peace Without Justice, the Institute for International Criminal Investigations, the Center for Justice & Accountability, Justice Rapid Response, the Special Representative of the Secretary General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, and the Office of the High Commissioner for Human Rights.