The 2006 Specialization Course on ‘The Doctrinal Basis and Characteristics of International Criminal Law’ was held in Siracusa from June 11-21, 2006. The course was sponsored by the following organizations and universities: International Association of Penal Law (Paris, France); International Human Rights Law Institute, DePaul University College of Law (Chicago, IL, USA); University of Palermo Faculty of Law (Palermo, Italy); University of Nantes Faculty of Law (Nantes, France); University of the Basque Country, Basque Institute of Criminology (San Sebastian, Spain).

The Specialization Course was attended by sixty-seven participants from all over the world, including Europe, North America, South America, Asia and the Middle East. English was the official language of the course. These individuals are recent law graduates, practitioners, academics or students, currently pursuing higher education or careers in the fields of international criminal law and international relations. Twenty-three different countries were represented among the participants involved in the Specialization Course. The course was taught and attended by twelve distinguished faculty members and judges.

The Specialization Course consisted of two parts, which included all day lecture sessions that were followed by several days of a moot court competition. At the end, all the participants attended 12 working sessions for a total of 42 actual academic contact hours. The lectures involved the following topics: The Sources and Doctrinal Bases of International Criminal Law; Doctrinal Perspectives on International Criminal Law; Contents of international criminal law; distinguishing between international crimes, transnational crimes, and crimes of international interest; Enforcement modalities of international criminal law: the distinction between the direct and indirect enforcement models and other models, and issues of jurisdictional complementarity, overlap, and conflicts of jurisdiction; The General Part of International Criminal Law; The Procedural Part of International Criminal Law; International Cooperation in Penal Matters; International Judicial and Investigatory Institutions.

The second part of the course involved a moot court competition entitled 'The Case Concerning the Mojahedin'. During this competition, the participants were divided into teams of three or four, and each team argued before the International Court of Justice for either the Applicant or Respondent. The oral arguments took place before panels of faculty member judges, and involved legal issues that may emerge in the future as the International Criminal Court begins to adjudicate cases. The moot court competition culminated with a semi-final round, which involved the top four teams, and the final competition that included the two winning teams from the semi-final round. Both of these rounds occurred before a panel of judges that consisted of participating faculty. Moot court competition awards were given to the winning Respondent team, and to the Applicant runners up.

The winners of the competition were:

- Ms Emmanuelle De Bock (Belgium),

- Ms Silva Hinek (Croatia),

- Mr Rodrigo Crespo (Portugal),

- Mr Daniel Nitu (Romania).

 The second best team winners were:

- Ms Olja Petrovska (Macedonia),

- Ms Juliana Koppany (Hungary),

- Mr Alberto Pasquero (Italy),

- Mr Emanuele Pitto (Italy).

At the conclusion of the Specialization Course, there was an awards ceremony. Ms Silva Hinek (Croatia) and Ms Juliana Koppany (Hungary) were awarded with the best overall oralist award. Moreover, every participant in the Specialization Course received a certificate in international criminal law.