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Mag. Renate WINTER Judge of the Appeals Chamber, Special Court for Sierra Leone, Freetown; Vice President, UN Committee on the Right of the Child, Geneva

CV

1962-1968 University of Vienna - studies in law and interpretation in French
1967 Master degrees in Law and Interpretation
1977-1981 Postgraduate education as judge
1967-1968 Assistant to the Chief Executive of Rhône-Poulenc Company Department in Vienna
1968-1969 Supervisor for senior residence homes of the Vienna Chamber of Commerce
1969-1977 University of Vienna. Language teacher. German for foreigners,
1981 Appointed Judge at the Vienna Youth Court
1981-1996 Judge for family and penal affairs (including juveniles and adults), Investigating judge, Sitting judge on penal affairs, President of Chamber of Penal Affairs, President of Juries on Penal Affairs
1996-2000 Consultant at UNOV (United Nations, Vienna), UN Center for International Crime Prevention (CICP); provided advice to government officials on the implementation of the Convention on the Rights of the Child in, for example, Albania, Bosnia & Herzegovina, Burundi; Estonia, Federation of Republica Srpska, Guatemala, Iran, Lebanon, Lithuania, Nigeria, Rwanda and Senegal; founding member of the Institute for Children's Rights (IDE), which is dedicated to the worldwide training of judicial personnel and dissemination of information on child rights (Sion, Switzerland); drafted model international law on juvenile justice and its commentary; finalized the United Nations Manual on Juvenile Justice; undertook needs assessment missions in various countries; contributed to the implementation of projects on juvenile justice in the Republic of South Africa and Lebanon; developed juvenile justice projects in various countries; Rapporteur at the Council of Europe on Family Mediation; drafted a project to accord the dispositions of the Convention of the Rights of the Child with the Islamic Law in Iran
2000-2002 Leave of absence from Vienna Youth Court; International Judge of Mitrovica Regional District Court with the United Nations Mission in Kosovo (UNMIK) and Justice at the Supreme Court in Kosovo; member of the Media Appeals Board, President of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council. As Presiding Judge, Reporting Judge, Investigating Judge or Member of trial panels of first instance courts and for seven months as Supreme Court Judge, handled approximately 90 criminal cases (among them War Crime cases, Genocide cases and cases of Crime Against Humanity) and conducted trials and other criminal proceedings on murders, organized crime, rape, illegal border crossings, ethnic crimes, juvenile crimes and other matters referred by Presidents of first instance Courts and of the Supreme Court, as well as by other International and Local Judges and Prosecutors and by the police. As the Chairwoman of the Judicial and Prosecutorial Council, dealt with disciplinary matters concerning judges and prosecutors and other matters referred to the Council in accordance with its jurisdiction and authority. Organized and chaired numerous workshops with local and international judiciary representatives in order to work towards the reestablishment of the judiciary system in the region. Drafted legal opinions and assisted in the issuance of the appropriate required regulations and amendments to update existing legislation, in order to improve the existing legal framework and promote respect for human rights and fundamental freedoms without any discrimination. Provided legal advice to the UNMIK Department of Justice on legal issues regarding inter ethnic cases.
since 2002 Appointed by the UN Secretary General to the Appeals Chamber of the Special Court of Sierra Leone (Member of the Appeals Chamber)
2008-2010 Elected President of the Special Court of Sierra Leone, currently member of the Appeals chamber of the SCSL

Mitgliedschaften

Representative of AIMJF (Internationalen Vereinigung der Justizbeamten für Jugend und Familie) at the Vienna NGO Alliance of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch of the UNOV, until 2000
Austrian representative of AIMJF, until 2001
President, International Association of Youth and Family Court Judges and Magistrates
Former Chairperson, Vienna NGO Alliance of the Crime Prevention and Criminal Justice Branch of the UNOV
Member, Austrian Judges Association
Member, Association for European Penal Law
Chair, Scientific Committee for European Master Studies of Mediation, Institut Universitaire Kurt Boesch, Switzerland
Member, Institute for Children s Rights, Valais, Switzerland

Publikationen

Numerous articles and papers in international and national Journals and newspapers