One hundred years ago – without the intervention of the First World War – The Third International Peace Conference would have taken place in The Hague. Now, a century later, The Hague University of Applied Sciences is organising The Third Hague Peace Conference. From 1 through 3 July, lectures and debates were held and students from all over the world met for discussion.
Subjects addressed during the three-day event included the humanitarian law of war and how the international community can devote its efforts to maintaining peace. Included in the programme was a lecture given by Nico Schrijver, Professor of Public International Law, about improving the decision-making process of the UN Security Council and a talk given by Joris Voorhoeve, head of the International Peace, Justice & Security research group, about the prevention of war and the building of peace after a war situation. But there was also a workshop on how to make peace go viral on social media.
Essays
The focus of this event was the new generation of students and their ideas about effective ways of peace-keeping and improving human rights. Students from all over the world were given the opportunity to write essays about these subjects, and the one hundred students who wrote the best essays were invited to attend the conference. The best essays are also being published in a book.
Georgia
One of the students coming to The Hague for this conference is Nino Makhauri from Georgia. She witnessed the Five-Day War in 2008 and wrote her essay about the situation in the Georgian region of Tskhinvali in the years that followed. Nino’s essay describes how Russia failed to comply with the six-point plan that Nicholas Sarkozy had drawn up under the supervision of the European Union and that had been endorsed by both Russia and Georgia. Nino explains that in 2011, on orders given by Russian soldiers, the ‘peacemakers’ behind the six-step plan set up barricades and barbed wire on Georgian territory thus sealing off 50 villages and forcing citizens to leave their homes. Although international organisations, including the European Commission, expressed their dismay, this has been of little concern to Russia and little has changed in the situation.
Nino’s essay shows that international conventions are difficult to enforce when one of the parties is uncooperative. His question: what can Georgia and international organisations working together achieve for this region?
Nino Makhauri’s essay: link.hhs.nl/xmsp/xms_itm_p.download_file?p_itm_id=98988
