By Viviana Knorr.
This year the Opening Ceremony of the 6th Ibero-American Week of International Justice once more was successfully staged at the Peace Palace, the seat of the International Court of Justice in The Hague on Wednesday, 1 June at 10 am.
Engaging the audience the opening was preceded by a warm welcoming speech by Mr. Héctor Olasolo Alonso, IIH Chairman; Chair in International Law at El Rosario University from Colombia and Ad Hoc Professor at The Hague University of Applied Sciences. Mr. Olasolo firstly expressed his deepest gratitude to H.E. Mr. Philippe Couvreur, the Registrar of the International Court of Justice “for his support given to this project in the Spanish language.”
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Mr. Olasolo extended his thoughts to The Permanent Court of Arbitration, the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in the Netherlands, the Mayor of The Hague, The Hague University of Applied Sciences, the Embassy of Argentina in The Hague, the University Del Rosario in Colombia and lastly to all Ambassadors from Latin America and to all organisations involved.
Mr. Olasolo words included his sincere recognition to all of them for allowing the event’s consolidation as for the participation of the juries and panelists of the Seminar of Ibero-American Thinking on International Justice.
Starting with 25 students in 2011 to today’s 250 participants, all activities planned for the 6th Ibero-American Week of International Justice keep showing the vibrant spirit with which the Institute and the Ibero-American Week of International Justice inaugurated the event then, as Mr. Olasolo remarked.
Following Mr. Olasolo speech the discourses of H.E. Mr. Philippe Couvreur the Registrar of the International Court of Justice, H.E. Mr. Johan van der Werff, Ambassador of the Netherlands for International Organisations, H.E. Mr. Alvaro Moerzinger, Vicepresident of the Asambly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court and, H.E. Ms. Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, President, proceeded.
“This monumental building has a strong value” stressed H.E. Mr. Couvreur about the Peace Palace in his imposing soulful historic reference, “it was erected about a century ago, following the vestige of the Conferences of Peace of The Hague of 1899 and 1907 as an attempt to materialize the efforts of the international society of the time, for the eradication of war and the establishment of a solid foundation of world peace.”
H. E. Mr. Couvreur remarked the then outstanding progress of Latin America in the first two conferences where Mexico was the only participant in the first one, and 16 states of the 44, represented by Argentina, Bolivia, Brasil, Chile, Colombia, Cuba, Ecuador, Guatemala, México, Nicaragua, Panamá, Paraguay, Perú, la República Dominicana, El Salvador y Uruguay, were in the second one.
Under the same light H.E. Mr. Couvreur emphasised Spain and Portugal’s part as the cradle of international law.
H.E. Mr. Van der Werff emotively expressed his participation highlighting the pride of the Netherlands for having the presence of today’s participants and older international institutions settled in The Hague since the Peace Palace was founded.
H.E. Mr. Moerzinger extended a profound invitation to Latin American jurists stressing The Hague’s main message of peace. The respect and international development to combat “the everlasting fight of humankind with its own barbaric acts”.
Closing the welcoming speeches H.E. Ms. Fernández de Gurmendi warmly addressed the options this event offers to its participants this year for its (polifonica) panels including China. “The importance of the future of international laws lays in you” were her words addressing the young jurists in the audience.
The immediate events highlighted following the occasion were the 4th Edition of the ICC Moot Court Competition in Spanish taking place on Thursday, 2 June at the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University, The Hague Campus.
Some special visits happening during the 6th Ibero-American Week of International Justice are those to the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and to the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW).
A reception followed the opening ceremony. The 6th Ibero-American Week of International Justice is taking place from 30 May until 10 June in The Hague.
