The Visiting Professional Programme offers a distinctive chance for individuals with diverse academic, professional, and cultural backgrounds to support the Court’s mandate, objectives, and functions. Visiting professionals can strengthen their prior expertise at national or international level and benefit from the unrivalled experience in implementing international criminal justice that the Court’s unique environment can offer.
The programme is designed to facilitate an exchange of knowledge between established professionals in their given field and the Court. Consequently, to qualify for a Visiting Professional position, candidates must be professionals in their given field, holding at least the equivalent of a bachelor's degree from an accredited university, and possess a minimum of three years of relevant full-time professional experience.
Candidates with less three years of experience are not eligible for a Visiting Professional placement, but may apply for an Internship. To learn more about the difference between an Intern and Visiting Professional, check the page Application Procedure and Frequently Asked Questions.
Frequently asked questions
The ICC offers visiting professional placements for talented professionals across various fields, including but not limited to law; human resources; translation and interpretation; IT management; and social psychology.
Unless specified in the vacancy announcement, good oral and drafting communication skills in one of the two official working languages of the Court (English and French) are required. Working knowledge of the other is an asset.
Knowledge of any of the other official languages of the court (Arabic, Chinese, Russian, and Spanish), or of other languages relevant to the situations pending before the Court will be considered an asset.
Visiting Professionals are required to work full-time for a period between one to six months (to be agreed prior to commencement). In principle, visiting professionals placements will not be extended beyond six months.
The ICC is not able to provide remuneration to most participants in the Internship and Visiting Professional Programme, nor is able to reimburse expenses incurred during the placement. Applicants should therefore plan to support themselves for the duration of their placement.
The ICC funds a few positions each year through the Trust Fund for the Development of Interns and Visiting Professionals or through an European Union (EU) Contribution to the ICC. In these cases, the Human Resources Section will advertise a funded vacancy announcement in accordance with the terms of reference of the Trust Fund or the EU Contribution to the ICC. Therefore, unless the possibility of funding is mentioned in the Vacancy Announcement, the position is unfunded.
To learn more about the funded Internship and Visiting Professional opportunities please refer to the following page: Learn more about the funded internship and visiting professional opportunities at the ICC.
Individuals can only complete one visiting professional placement at the Court. A visiting professional may exceptionally be granted a second visiting professional placement in a different Organ, Office, Division, Section or Unit based on the candidate’s change of career, following additional academic studies in a different field and if approved by the Human Resources Section
Individuals are ineligible to apply if they have a parent or a sibling currently working at the Court.
Work experience is measured in terms of duration and relevance. Work experience must be relevant to the post. Relevant work experience is the mastering of skills through the practical application of theoretical knowledge, in the performance of a particular job, related to the post. Work experience can be acquired on a full time or part time basis, and may or may not e awarded in monetary terms. Work experience acquired on a part-time basis is credited proportionately to the time worked. Internships, fellowships and volunteer work are counted at half credit. Self-employment and consultancies are also counted at half credit.
Next to strengthening their work experience, an ICC visiting professional placement offers many opportunities to visiting professionals to exchange knowledge by allowing professionals from diverse academic, practical and cultural backgrounds the opportunity to develop an in depth understanding of the Court’s objectives and functions. Visiting Professionals will have the chance to participate in educational visits, attend specific talks by ICC staff members, complete a number of online certifications provided by the ICC and partner institutions, amongst other benefits.
ICC Visiting Professionals also have access to recreational activities, such as sports and fitness activities and social networking groups.
Unless otherwise specified in the vacancy, candidates from non-State parties are eligible to apply for a visiting professional placement.
Due to the large volume of applications received, only successful candidates will be contacted and invited to the next round.
Candidates can apply for all suitable vacancies. The amount of vacancies a candidate applied for will not be taken into consideration during the selection process.