The Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights at The Faculty of Law and Political Science, An-Najah National University has launched its first academic course on “International Justice: Courts and Jurisprudence” during the summer semester of the 2024/2025 academic year, in cooperation with the International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights Master’s Program at An-Najah National University. This course is delivered in collaboration with Professor Karen Gréwall, a lawyer, human rights activist, and researcher with extensive experience in international law and human rights, having worked in various post-conflict and transitional contexts including Sierra Leone, Kosovo, and Sri Lanka.

The course offers an introduction to international and regional justice systems and courts, as well as their jurisprudence. It focuses on the United Nations’ International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, other specialized international justice mechanisms, the European Court of Human Rights, the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, and the Inter-American Court of Human Rights, all of which have gained a central role in the field of international justice. The course aims to analyze the structure, organization, procedures, and jurisprudence of these bodies with the objective of understanding their interpretation of the law, legal reasoning, enforcement mechanisms, the roles they have played at the international level, and their impact at the national level, including on state practices, the prevention of human rights violations by states, and the provision of remedies for such violations.

It is worth noting that the development and launch of this course comes as a part of the various activities implemented by the Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights aimed at advancing legal education and the teaching of international law in Palestinian universities. This initiative is part of the project of the establishment of the Palestinian Institute for International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, funded by the European Union.