By Jhr mr Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland LL.M.
Several years ago the United Nations declared September 21 ‘the International Day of Peace’. The City of The Hague, with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) since 1946 the second UN City in the World and declared to be The International City of Peace and Justice as well as The Legal Capital of the World by two UN Secretaries-General, of course celebrates this day, even in a four days event: the Just Peace Festival, in 2017 for the fourth time, with a wealth of activities.
On Thursday September 21st itself you can join the Hague Talks at the Peace Palace: Dialogues for Peace. Lots of other activities will follow. On the last day, Sunday September 24th the Festival ends with three events. In the morning (9 am to 1 pm) you can join Peace Run The Hague. You can run 5 or 10 kilometers (Kids Run 1,5 or 2,5 km); the charity of Peace Run The Hague will be Unicef. In the afternoon (noon until 6 pm) you are welcome in the Palace Gardens of the Kings Palace Noordeinde (entrance: Prinsessewal) for ‘Peace in the Park’. And during the whole day the many international organisations for which the city is known will open their doors for one day to the public: you can pay a visit to remarkable institutions like the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY), the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Unicef, the Peace Palace with the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as well as the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) etc.
The admission is free, but for security reasons you have to sign up for the tours in and around the international organisations in advance via the website www.justpeacethehague.com, where you can find many more details of the program for the 4th Just Peace Festival from 21 to 24 September 2017.
Enjoy those four wonderful international days in our International City of Peace and Justice !
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About the author: Jhr. mr. Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland LL.M. is Justice (Judge) in the (Dutch) Court of Appeal as well as honorary Special Advisor International Affairs, appointed by the Mayor and Aldermen of The Hague
