Today, 8 March 2021, the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or the “Court”) joins the international community in marking International Women’s Day and seizes the occasion to announce the appointment of a Focal Point for Gender Equality at the Court.
“I am pleased to announce that the ICC has finalised the recruitment of the Court’s Focal Point for Gender Equality who will start her work today. This is a crucial milestone towards effectively improving gender-related issues in our institution,” said ICC President, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji.
The Focal Point will assist the Court’s Leadership in their efforts to strengthen gender related policies across the Court and to address issues related to employment conditions of women in the institution, including gender balance at all levels of employment. The Focal Point’s key functions will include monitoring the Court’s progress in strengthening gender equality; advocating on issues impacting women and gender; providing individual counselling; raising greater awareness through training programmes, workshops and events; and advising on gender parity targets.
“In 2021, together with the new Focal Point for Gender Equality, we intend to issue stronger policies on harassment and bullying and the disciplinary process to reinforce the Court’s zero tolerance policy for harassment in the workplace,” ICC Registrar Peter Lewis stated. “We have an obligation to continue to strive to ensure an atmosphere in which everyone feels safe to work at the Court, even more so because as a court of law, we have to ensure the highest standards apply,” he added.
More broadly, with new leadership joining the ICC in 2021, including six new judges, a new President, and a new Prosecutor who will assume office in June, the Court will continue to work to integrate women’s perspectives in all of their diversity in the Court’s work and to give women equal opportunities. In this regard, the Court is also fully engaged in assessing the relevant recommendations of the Independent Expert Review, related to gender equality and experiences of women in the workplace.
“Crisis, whether caused by COVID-19 or the many conflict situations where my Office conducts its activities, is never gender neutral. Women often bear the disproportionate brunt. The law can serve as powerful tool to empower and to protect women, and to ensure their voices are heard”, ICC Prosecutor, Fatou Bensouda stated. “My belief in the protective embrace of the law has been an intrinsic part of my work and personal commitment as a woman, as a lawyer and as ICC Prosecutor. We must guard against the eroding effects of the health crisis and policies that undermine the progress made, whether it is about women empowerment, the rule of law, or multilateralism. Equality for women and women empowerment translate into progress for all”, she added.
On this International Women’s Day, the Court’s principals also express their profound appreciation for the critical contributions of women across the ICC – at headquarters in The Hague as well as in country offices – to the Court’s mandate under the Rome Statute.
Today, 8 March 2021, Trial Chamber VI of the International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) delivered in a public hearing its Order on Reparations to victims under article 75 of the Rome Statute in the case of The Prosecutor v. Bosco Ntaganda.
Judge Chang-ho Chung, Presiding Judge in the reparations proceedings, read a summary of the Order for reparations against Mr Ntaganda, to be made through the Trust Fund for Victims.
The Chamber, composed of Judge Chang-ho Chung, Judge Robert Fremr, and Judge Olga Herrera Carbuccia, recalled the large scope of the case and the potential large number of victims eligible to receive reparations. In light of the circumstances of the case and bearing in mind the rights of the convicted person, the Chamber set the total reparations award for which Mr Ntaganda is liable at USD 30,000,000.
The Chamber also found Mr Ntaganda to be indigent for the purposes of reparations and encouraged the Trust Fund for Victims to complement the reparation awards to the extent possible within its available resources and to engage in additional fundraising efforts as necessary to complement the totality of the award.
The Chamber, established that, in light of the crimes for which Mr Ntaganda was convicted, eligible victims include: direct and indirect victims of the attacks, of crimes against child soldiers, of rape and sexual slavery, and children born out of rape and sexual slavery. It also defined the harms caused to victims, describing the great suffering and long-lasting consequences they suffered.
The Chamber noted that it decided to award collective reparations with individualised components, considering that they were the most appropriate type of reparations for this case, as they may provide a more holistic approach to address the multi-faceted harm suffered by the large number of victims eligible to receive reparations.
The modalities of reparations may include measures of restitution, compensation, rehabilitation, and satisfaction, which may incorporate, when appropriate, a symbolic, preventative, or transformative value. The Trust Fund for Victims was instructed to design a draft implementation plan on the basis of all the modalities of reparations identified in the Order, in consultation with the victims.
The Chamber noted that priority shall be given to individuals who require immediate medical and psychological care, victims with disabilities and the elderly, victims of sexual or gender-based violence, victims who are homeless or experiencing financial hardship, as well as children born out of rape and sexual slavery and former child soldiers.
The Chamber issued the Order particularly acknowledging the suffering of victims sexual and gender based violence and adopting additional Principles that should guide every step of the reparation process including, among others, a Gender-inclusive and sensitive approach to reparations, requiring the Court to give due consideration and address the specific needs of all individuals, without discrimination on the basis of sex or gender identity.
In its Order, the Chamber also set deadlines for the Trust Fund for victims to submit its general draft implementation plan by 8 September 2021, at the latest, and an urgent plan for the priority victims no later than 8 June 2021.
By H.E. Mr. Nicolas P. Plexidas, Ambassador of the Hellenic Republic.
March 25, 2021 is a fundamental historic milestone for my country, marking 200 years since the outbreak of the Greek Revolution in 1821, which led to the creation of the modern Greek state in 1830.
The Greek Revolution was born amidst the emergence of nationalism and liberalism in Europe, largely inspired by the French and American revolutions. Contrary to other radical national movements of the time, it did not seek to overturn the European order. Instead, it was the result of the uprising of a people that had preserved its national consciousness and religious identity through the centuries against the Ottoman oppressor. It was an armed struggle aiming at creating a “shell state” for the Christian Greek nation by breaking the chains of its multireligious, multiethnic Ottoman rule. In this sense, the Greek Revolution was ideologically related to German romantic nationalism, rather than French enlightenment.
During the first two years of the Revolution the Great Powers, to avoid engaging in power struggles among themselves, were opposed to it, thus supporting the integrity of the Ottoman Empire. However, in 1823, a shift in British diplomacy occurred, when they started to perceive the new Greek state as a useful ally in the south-eastern Mediterranean and recognized the Greeks as “nation in war”. Soon after that, the rest of the Great Powers became more involved in Greek affairs, claiming also a share in the resolution of the “Greek Question”.
Germanos, Metropolitan of Patras, Blessing the flag of Revolution, Theodoros Vryzakis, 1865, 16,4×1,26m, oel on canvas..National Art Gallery and Alexandros Soutzos Museum, Athensεο Αλεξάνδρου Σούτζου
It was not only political agendas and timing that left their mark on the Greek Revolution, but also Philhellenism, an international movement of sympathy for the struggling Greeks, which became a crucial instrument for moral and financial support to them. With liberal ideas of the French Revolution spreading in Europe, admiration for ancient Greece and abhorrence for the Ottoman atrocities against the unarmed people, as well as the successes of the revolted Greeks in the battlefield during the first two years of the Revolution, contributed to Philhellenism steadily gaining ground.
Its enormous contribution to the Greek struggle for independence was intertwined with the increasing Greek Diaspora, as prosperous Greek communities of merchants and intellectuals scattered around the world formed “Struggle Committees” to secretly contribute to the independence cause. In fact, many Philhellenes participated in the struggle with some giving their lives fighting for the Greek cause, most prominent among them the English poet and philosopher Lord Byron, who died in the besieged city of Messolonghi in 1824.
During the Greek Revolution Dutch Philhellenes were also active throughout the Netherlands. Τhe “Amsterdam Philhellenic Commission” was founded to support the cause of Greek independence, with existing evidence proving transfer of funds and goods to the Provisional Government of Greece. Similar “support committees” were also founded in other Dutch cities, such as Rotterdam, with relevant documents relating to the period of 1825-1828 preserved in the City Archives.
An important role in the spread of Philhellenism in the Netherlands is attributed to the scholar Adamantios Korais, the father of the modern Greek enlightenment, who lived in Amsterdam for 6 years (1770-1776) as member of the Greek community of merchants settled in the city since 1750. Korais attended the Athenaeum Illustre in Amsterdam, as well as the University of Leiden, discipline of classical literature Professor Daniël Wyttenbach, whose widow, Danielle Jeanne, a philosopher and writer herself, became a renowned Philhellene. Her work is housed in the Collection of Manuscripts of the Department of Special Collections of the University of Amsterdam Central Library, headed by the Department of Greek Studies.
In our contemporary world the Greek Revolution of 1821 remains an eternal symbol of an ancient people’ s struggle for independence, freedom and statehood. The emerging new Greek state, the first ever nation-state in the eastern Mediterranean until the late 19th century, was founded from scratch on an ideological basis: to become an advanced outpost of the developed West in what was at the time perceived as underdeveloped East.
Two hundred years after the Revolution, Greece has found its place again in world history, along with its ecumenical cultural heritage of values and principles that gave birth to today’s western civilization and has since inspired people all over the world.
The International Public Diplomacy Council (IPDC) Ambassadors of the Year & Public Diplomacy Awards by Diplomat Magazine.
The IPDC is a non-for-profit group inside Diplomat Magazine platform with the mandate to support and enhance the practice of public diplomacy at the national and international level focused on all the men and women who constitute the great diplomatic corps, coming from every corner of the world to restlessly serve their country.
Me Pierre Thibault, Assistant Dean from the Faculty of Civil Law, University of Ottawa, H.E. Mr. Maengho Shin, Ambassador of the Republic of Korea and H.E. Mr. Solomon Anu´a Gheyle, High Commissioner of Cameroon and Dean of the Diplomatic Corps of Canada.
IPDC’s first international awards were presented in 2014 in The Hague. Since January 2018 we were invited to organize the first Ambassador’s Awards with the Faculty of Civil Law of the University of Ottawa in collaboration with the Deanship of the Diplomatic Corps of Canada.
Ambassadors of the Year 2020, at the Faculty of Civil Law, University of Ottawa.
Many companies have been hit hard by the coronavirus and are struggling with the consequences. Employers are looking for a solution by, for example, changing the employment conditions of employees. But sometimes such temporary solutions are not sufficient and employers might have to reorganize their company. Then, dismissals are inevitable to guarantee the continuity of the company.
In this situation, both employer and employees face challenges: Can employment contracts be unilaterally amended? What do you have to take into account in the event of a dismissal during COVID-19? What is the role of the works council in a reorganization? Are you still allowed to stay in the Netherlands after you have been dismissed?
Our employment lawyers Priscilla C.X. de Leede, LL.M. and Eileen Pluijm, LL.M. will discuss these questions during a practical webinar in cooperation with IN Amsterdam.
Webinar Details
Date:
Tuesday, 23 March 2021
Time:
4:00 PM – 4:30 PM
Presenters:
Priscilla C.X. de Leede, LL.M. and Eileen Pluijm, LL.M.
Contact:
Russell Advocaten Antonio Vivaldistraat 6 1083 HP Amsterdam info@russell.nl +31 20 301 55 55
The webinar will be broadcast via Microsoft Teams Live Meeting and can be joined on any device by clicking the link provided after registration.
Par Jean-Michel Armengol, Secrétaire général de la Commission nationale andorrane pour l’UNESCO et Jordi Canut, Ministère des Affaires étrangères.
L’Acte constitutif de l’UNESCO proclamait que « les guerres prenant naissance dans l’esprit des hommes, c’est dans l’esprit des hommes que doivent être élevées les défenses de la paix ». Lorsque les fondateurs de l’UNESCO ont tracé ces grands mots en novembre 1945, ils avaient certainement à l’esprit les ravages provoqués par la Seconde Guerre mondiale.
Depuis, il est clairement apparu que le hard powerne pouvait, à lui seul, être le garant de la paix et que les hauts dignitaires des différentes puissances mondiales devaient penser à diversifier leurs stratégies pour améliorer les relations entre pays et pouvoirs souvent antagonistes. De manière progressive, le soft power ou « force douce » de la culture, la diplomatie culturelle, s’est avéré un outil précieux. En effet, dès 2007, par exemple, la Commission européenne a proposé d’étudier le rôle de la culture dans les relations internationales de l’Union européenne, mettant ainsi en exergue sa capacité à tisser des liens à long terme, fondés sur la confiance et compréhension mutuelles.
Taller artistes ArtCamp 2018.
Guidée par cette conviction, la Commission nationale andorrane pour l’UNESCO (CNAU), en étroite collaboration avec le Ministère des Affaires étrangères de la Principauté d’Andorre, a créé en 2008 le premier ArtCamp Andorre. L’objet de cette résidence d’artistes peintres du monde entier est de participer à la construction d’un monde plus pacifique en s’attachant à promouvoir le dialogue interculturel, les échanges de vues et d’idées, à encourager une meilleure connaissance des autres cultures et créer des liens respectueux entre communautés traditionnellement en situation de conflit.
Ces rencontres visent in fine à encourager une vision positive de la diversité culturelle, conçue comme une source de richesse, de dialogue et de paix. Depuis sa création, 6 éditions ArtCamp ont déjà eu lieu et la 7e, initialement prévue en juillet 2020, se tiendra en Andorre du 14 au 25 juillet 2021, si la situation de la crise sanitaire causée par la COVID-19 le permet. Plus de 150 artistes provenant de 80 pays différents se sont ainsi déjà rencontrés en Principauté en laissant derrière eux plus de 600 œuvres originales en témoignage de leur passage en Andorre et de leur engagement envers les valeurs universelles de l’UNESCO.
En cette période de crise du secteur culturel, la CNAU et le projet ArtCamp ont tenu à s’impliquer activement au sein du mouvement RésiliArt lancé par l’UNESCO. Par le biais de courtes vidéos, des artistes du monde entier ont pu faire entendre leurs voix pour penser la relance et l’avenir de la culture, qui se révèle aujourd’hui plus que jamais nécessaire pour aider la population à mieux supporter les mesures restrictives de confinement imposées pour essayer d’enrayer la pandémie.
ArtCamp Andorre bénéficie du haut patronage de l’UNESCO dans le cadre de la Convention sur la diversité des expressions culturelles de 2005. D’autre part, et suivant le Plan stratégique national de la Principauté d’Andorre pour la mise en œuvre de l’Agenda 2030, les artistes sont aussi sélectionnés en tenant compte de leur attachement aux Objectifs de développement durable.
À partir de cette édition 2021, et dans le cadre de la célébration du 75e anniversaire de l’UNESCO, une nouvelle proposition sera faite pour les artistes sélectionnés en organisant un débat sur « les arts plastiques et créations artistiques en période de crise et en situation d’urgence culturelle ». L’Université d’Andorre, et d’autres universités sensibles à la thématique de la diplomatie culturelle, se joindront donc à cette nouvelle proposition en faisant intervenir des penseurs et intellectuels du monde entier. D’autre part, le Département des Affaires multilatérales et de la Coopération du Ministère des Affaires étrangères andorran offre dorénavant aux artistes la possibilité de postuler à une subvention pour mettre en œuvre un projet social mariant l’art, la culture de la paix et le développement durable.
Au fil des années, et grâce à l’enthousiasme et proactivité de la marraine du projet, Madame Hedva Ser, artiste et Ambassadrice de bonne volonté pour la diplomatie culturelle, le projet a pris son essor au-delà des Pyrénées et jouit déjà d’une édition méditerranéenne à Malte depuis 2015. D’autres pays et régions ont manifesté leur intérêt d’organiser un ArtCamp, conscients du rôle que ce beau projet peut jouer dans le rapprochement des cultures et en tant que levier de diplomatie culturelle.
By H.E. Ms. Marisol Agüero Colunga, Ambassador of Peru.
Oceanus Peruvianus was the name given by the Dutch-Flemish astronomer, cartographer and theologian Petrus Plancius to the Pacific Ocean in 1594. This was an extension of the America Peruana, expression he used to designate virtually the whole South American continent in times where the news about the Inca Empire and its gold and silver wealth made the Viceroyalty of Peru the centre of interest in Europe.
The work of Plancius was of utmost influence among European cartographers and the expression Oceanus Peruvianus was widely used until the first decades of the 18th century[1]. Nevertheless, the riches of that sea were yet to be discovered.
Peruvian iconic native fishing boats, the caballitos de totora (little reed horses).
In modern times, the so-called Peruvian Sea[2] runs along the 3,080 km of Peru’s coastline and extends to the West up to 200 nautical miles (M). Although nowadays the maritime rights of every coastal State over 200 M is not contested, Peru was, in 1947, the first country in the world in setting forth by a piece of legislation its rights over the adjacent sea and its resources to that extension, opposing to the maritime powers that used to send fleets to the coasts of South America for purposes of intensive fishing and whale hunting.
The aim of the Peruvian legislative act was to avoid depletion and to preserve the marine resources particularly for the benefit of Peru’s coastal population.
Together with Chile, that through a presidential declaration had claimed such rights one month before, and since 1952 also with Ecuador, Peru deployed efforts to defend and promote around the world the principles supporting their maritime claims. Colombia adhered in 1979. After several years of tireless negotiations, in 1982 the rights of the coastal States over 200 M of the adjacent sea and the resources therein were universally recognized and enshrined in the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.
The Peruvian coast line.
But, why the extension of 200 M? The number is related to the maximum width of the Peru’s Current, also known as the Humboldt Current in honour of the Prussian polymath Alexander von Humboldt, who was the first in scientifically studying it in 1802 by measuring its temperature and speed. This current runs along the western coast of South America but mainly along Peru’s coast bringing cold waters together with plankton to the surface and to latitudes that otherwise would register temperatures between 5 and 10 Celsius degrees higher. This explains the riches of the Peruvian Sea, the world’s most productive fishing area.
In the waters washing Peru’s coasts there are more than 1,000 fish species, more than 1,000 types of molluscs and crustaceans, more than 200 of echinoderms, 32 different marine cetaceans and 5 of the 7 species of the sea turtles that exist in the world.
Not surprisingly, the fishing activity in the Peruvian Sea started as early as 5,000 years ago when the people of Caral, the oldest city in the Americas, located north of Lima, practiced fish and molluscs catching using an advanced technology that included fishing nets made of cotton, hooks and boats. Other pre-Incas civilizations in Peru and the Incas also benefited from the wealth of the sea, which inspired many pieces of pottery, gold and silver, as well as patterns on textiles.
At present, Peru is the first world producer of fishmeal made of Engraulis ringens, also known as Peruvian Anchovy, a fish rich in vitamins A and D, Iron and Omega 3 and 6 and which is exported to different markets around the world. It is estimated that around 250,000 Peruvians are related to fish activities and Peru´s fleet counts almost 850 vessels.
The wide variety of marine species has contributed to the enrichment of the Peruvian gastronomy. In fact, Peru has been awarded eight consecutive times as the World´s Leading Culinary Destination by the prestigious “World Travel Awards”.
There is also much to say about the submarine areas of the Peruvian Sea but we leave it for another opportunity.
Finally, I would like to mention that Peru completed its maritime boundary delimitation with a Judgement of the International Court of Justice in 2014. That way, the last boundary of the truly Oceanus Peruvianus was established in Dutch land 420 years after a Dutch cartographer deemed it appropriate to extend Peru’s demonym to the whole Pacific Ocean.
[1] Doré, Andréa. America Peruana and Oceanus Peruvianus: a different cartography of the New World, Revista Tempo, Vol 20, Universidade Federal Fluminense, 2014.
[2] Peruvian Sea is not a geographical denomination but an expression of common use. According to Peru’s domestic law its name is Mar de Grau, in honour to a distinguished national naval hero.
Albania is the only Nazi-occupied country that had a larger Jewish population after the Holocaust as compared to before. In this article, H.E. Ms. Adia Sakiqi, Ambassador of Albania to the Netherlands, recounts the efforts made by Albanians to rescue their Jewish brothers and sisters who faced persecution at the hands of Nazism.
Ambassador, could you provide us with some background on the historic relations between Albania and the Jewish people?
The Republic of Albania has always enjoyed excellent relations with Israel and the Jewish people. The history of the Jewish community in Albania dates back about 2,000 years, where the country was always considered a safe haven: the Jewish people have sought refuge in Albania three times, in the first century, in the 15th and 17th centuries, and have always been welcomed by the Albanian people.
How did this special relationship play out in the first half of the 20th century, when Jews came to be persecuted in many places across Europe?
In 1932, when anti-Semitism was widespread, Albania was the first country in Europe to recognize the right of the Jewish community to live in peace. After Hitler’s rise to power in 1933, many Jews found refuge in Albania. No accurate figures exist regarding their number; however, different sources estimate that 600-1,800 Jewish refugees entered the country from Germany, Austria, Serbia, Greece and Yugoslavia, in the hope to continue on to the Land of Israel or other places of refuge.[1] Following the German occupation in 1943, the Albanian population, in an extraordinary act, refused to comply with the occupier’s orders to turn over lists of Jews residing within the country’s borders. Moreover, the various governmental agencies provided many Jewish families with fake documentation that allowed them to intermingle amongst the rest of the population.
The Albanians not only protected their Jewish friends, but also provided sanctuary to Jewish refugees who had arrived in Albania, when it was still under Italian rule, and now found themselves faced with the danger of deportation to concentration camps. Many Albanian citizens of all religions, Christian Orthodox, Catholic, Bektashi and Muslims provided a safe haven for the fleeing Jews from other countries, even from the Netherlands as the Dutch author, Ms. Helene Wesselingh explains in her recent book “De belofte van de nakomeling”.[2] Jews found shelter in many Albanian households in cities, but when the threat grew too high from the occupying forces’ frequent checkpoints, many escaped to the remote mountains and pretended to be local shepherds. They were provided food and shelter by the local Albanians.[3]
Prime Minister of Albania Mr. Edi Rama and Israel Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu.
This behavior explains the exceptionality of Albania, whose Jewish population increased throughout World War II, despite the persecution of Jews under Nazism…
Indeed. While counting only 200 Jewish families before the WWII, by the end of WWII, Albania was home to more than 2,000 people of the Jewish community. Albania it is thus, the only country that counted more Jewish population after World War II than before the war began.[4] It’s worth mentioning that only one European nation — Albania — can claim it had more Jews at the end of World War II than when the war started.
Has the effort of the Albanian people been recognized, internationally and in Israel?
At the international level, it was through former US Congressman Joe Di Guardi – who, together with Congressman Tom Lantos, after 1990 was the first to chair the Human Rights Committee in the US Congress, and who visited Albania – that the fact that every Jewish person who passed on Albanian soil during the Nazi occupation escaped the Holocaust was first recognized.
As for the recognition in Israel, Albania appreciates the inclusion of Albania’s contribution to the protection of Jews in Israeli high school curriculum, which will help younger generations recognize it and appreciate it, contributing to the continuation and consolidation of friendship between the two countries. For this contribution, the Raul Wallenberg Foundation decorated Albania as the “House of LIFE”, a unique example in the world and the Albania’s role was included in Israeli high school curriculum.[5]
Unfortunately, anti-Semitism continues to be an issue as of today. What is Albania currently doing to fight this plague?
Under the auspice of the Albanian Chairmanship of the OSCE, on 4-5 February 2020, in Tirana, was held the High-Level Conference on the Fight against Anti-Semitism in the OSCE region. It was attended by official delegations from OSCE participating States, representatives of international organizations, diplomatic community, civil society, etc. This conference provided a good opportunity for dialogue and discussion between the participants on current challenges and good practices related to the fight against anti-Semitism, examining the possibilities of interaction between the participating OSCE states, and promoting tolerance and non-discrimination.
During the conference, Prime Minister of Albania Mr. Edi Rama, said that our small country has a lot to show to the OSCE countries about the values and the people who saved the Jewish people, making for a great example. PM Rama has called on everyone to say “never again” to anti-Semitism and to rise up against it in every environment, as the way out can be achieved only when people show solidarity and when governments promote fundamental human rights and freedoms.[6]
In October 2020, the Albanian Parliament, in partnership with the Movement Against Anti-Semitism and the Agency for Jews of Israel, organized the first Balkan Forum Against Anti-Semitism.[7] Guests and special speakers at the Forum were high level government officials from Albania, Kosovo, North Macedonia, Montenegro and Israel, as well as the US Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and European Parliament President David Sassoli, the United Nations High Representative for the Alliance of Civilizations Miguel Engel Moratinos, United States Senator for Nevada, Mrs. Mr. Jacklyn Rosen, United States Special Envoy for Monitoring and Combating Anti-Semitism Mrs. Elan S. Carr, President of the Center for Jewish Influence Robert Singer, President of the Jewish Agency for Israel, Mr. Isaac Herzog, Chairman of the Board of the Congress of Eurasian Jews, Mr. Aaron Frenkel, as well as activists in the global fight against anti-Semitism.
In July 2020, an inauguration ceremony was held for the new Holocaust Memorial established in Tirana. The ceremony was attended by the Prime Minister of Albania, Mr. Edi Rama, the US ambassador, Yuri Kim, the Israeli ambassador to Albania, Noah Gal Gendler, the Mayor of Tirana, Erion Veliaj, representatives of all religious communities in Albania, etc.
The Memorial is composed of three high stones of gray marble, placed at the entrance of the Artificial Lake Park of Tirana, are the Holocaust Memorial, newly inaugurated. In three different languages, Albanian, Hebrew and English, the same historical event is witnessed in each of them: the refusal of the Albanian people to report and hand over the Jewish refugees and their hosts to the Nazi occupiers, the risk of their lives to save the Jewish people.[8] At the base of the Memorial is written in golden letters the following expression in the scriptures: “He who saves a life, saves the whole world.”
[1] Archival material of the Embassy of the Republic of Albania to Israel, 2021.
[5] Archival material of the Embassy of the Republic of Albania to Israel, 2021. Archival material of the Embassy of the Republic of Albania to Israel, 2021.
The request for an investigation was made by an entity which is not a sovereign state within the terms of the Rome Statute, under which only sovereign states may delegate jurisdiction to the Court over their territory.
By Friends of Israel Initiative
Dear Mr. Khan,
Congratulations on your election as Chief Prosecutor of the ICC. We are the Board members of the Friends of Israel Initiative, an independent body of former heads of government, cabinet ministers and others. We came together out of concern for the unprecedented campaign of delegitimization against Israel waged by the enemies of the Jewish State and supported by numerous international institutions.
We are writing to urge you to re-evaluate the decision taken by your predecessor, Ms. Fatou Bensouda, to investigate Israel over “alleged crimes committed in the occupied Palestinian territory, including East Jerusalem, since 13 June 2014.” As you are aware, the ICC’s Pre-Trial Chamber recently adjudged that the Court has jurisdiction over these allegations.
The Friends of Israel Initiative has opposed this investigation since a preliminary examination was initiated at the request of the Palestinian Authority in 2015. In addition to the substance of the allegations against Israel, which we firmly believe to be spurious, we have several other serious concerns.
Israel is not a party to the Rome Statute and has not consented to the Court’s jurisdiction. The request for an investigation was made by an entity which is not a sovereign state within the terms of the Rome Statute, under which only sovereign states may delegate jurisdiction to the Court over their territory. This view is strongly supported by the government of the United States of America, as well as the governments of Rome Statute state-parties Germany, Austria, the Czech Republic, Hungary, Australia, Canada, Uganda and Brazil, as well as by leading international law scholars.
In assigning itself jurisdiction, the ICC disregards and undermines the Oslo Accords, an internationally binding set of agreements that remain in force and continue to be recognized by both Israel and the Palestinian Authority. Under the Oslo Accords, the Palestinian Authority has no criminal jurisdiction over Israelis anywhere in the West Bank, the Gaza Strip or East Jerusalem. That jurisdiction, by agreement of both Israel and the Palestinian Authority, remains with Israel alone. Therefore, even if it were a state-party, the Palestinian Authority could not delegate any such authority to the ICC.
As you know, the ICC is mandated to investigate and try the gravest crimes of concern to the international community, as a court of last resort, when national jurisdictions are unable or unwilling to do so. This does not apply to Israel, which has a long-established and internationally respected legal system with a track record of investigating such crimes and prosecuting individuals when appropriate.
In addition to these concerns over jurisdiction, we believe that, by commencing this investigation, the ICC would actively undermine the prospects for peace between Israel and the Palestinians. Recent months have seen unprecedented progress in the Middle East peace process, with peace agreements signed between Israel and the UAE, Bahrain, Morocco, and Sudan. Building on these developments, the new U.S. administration may now have an opportunity to further negotiations between Israel and the Palestinians. For an international body with the prestige of the ICC to support the abrogation of the Oslo Accords and unilaterally endorse one side’s claims in a bilateral dispute would cripple the likelihood of future negotiations.
Finally, we have profound concerns over the effects of such an investigation on the ICC’s judicial integrity and, therefore, on its mandate of achieving international criminal justice, which is of the utmost importance in an increasingly turbulent world. It is essential that the Court continue to observe the tenets of international law scrupulously, to operate within the mandate proscribed for it by the Rome Statute, and to avoid acting through political motivation or through the appearance of such. We believe that pursuit of this fundamentally flawed investigation jeopardizes all of these objectives.
We agree with the words of the ICC Pre-Trial Chamber’s presiding judge, Peter Kovacs, who wrote: “I find neither the Majority’s approach nor its reasoning appropriate in answering the question before this Chamber, and in my view, they have no legal basis in the Rome Statute, and even less so, in public international law.”
We wish you every success in your new role as ICC Chief Prosecutor. We are also willing to provide advice or assistance should you wish.
Hon. Stephen Harper, Chairman, Former Prime Minister of Canada.
Hon. José Maria Aznar, Honorary Chairman, Former President of Spain.
Lord William David Trimble, Former Prime Minister of Northern Ireland. Nobel Peace Prize in 1998.
Hon. John Howard, Former Prime Minister of Australia
Hon. Luis Alberto Lacalle, Former President of Uruguay
Mr. John Baird, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Canada
Mr. Karl-Theodor zu Guttenberg, former Defense Minister of Germany
Ambassador Giulio Terzi, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Italy
Mr. Bill Richardson, Former Governor of New Mexico
Ambassador Zoran Jolevski, Former Minister of Defense and Ambassador of Macedonia
Mr. Uri Rosenthal, Former Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands
Mr. Carlos Bustelo former Minister of Industry and Energy of Spain
Mr. Elliot Abrams, Former United States Special Representative for Iran and Venezuela
Col. Richard Kemp, Former British Army Commander
Professor Andrew Roberts, British historian, visiting professor at King’s College London
Roberto F. Agostinelli, Managing Director at Rhône Group
Mr. Carlos Alberto Montaner, Exiled Cuban author and journalist
Mrs. Fiamma Nirenstein, Italian journalist, author and politician
Mr. George Weigel, Distinguished Senior Fellow of the Ethics and Public Policy Center
Mr. Rafael Bardají, Executive Director Friends of Israel Initiative
She enchants everyone with her sophisticated appearance, reminding of a Patrician woman from ancient Rome. It takes seconds to understand she is no ordinary kind.
Born and raised in Bucharest, Andreea Gradinar is a highly educated Romanian, with economic background, a Master in International Law and a PhD in Economics.
‘It was my mother’s dream that I join the Foreign Service ever since I was little. She was a public servant for more than four decades with a huge admiration for the diplomatic service. Diplomats have always belonged to the intellectual elite and had the enriching opportunity of working abroad’ she says.
So she became a diplomat, and that’s where fate came in, that’s how she met her husband, a career diplomat himself. She remembers: ‘It took us four years of friendship to finally decide to start a life together in Vienna, where we were both first posted. It has been an amazing journey ever since, with professional and personal commitments going hand in hand.’
I imagine it hasn’t been easy to fulfil all that tasks that a diplomatic career and also a full role as supporting wife and mother usually require. But she has proved it is possible. In fact, women are nowadays increasingly more involved and active. She notices that recently ‘an entire narrative about women in diplomacy shifted from “women cannot be employed as diplomatic officers because of their well-known inability to keep a secret” to having more and more women in the Foreign Service and an increasing number of female ambassadors. In the Romanian Foreign Service, we now have a different type of gender issue, having more female diplomats actually.’
She says that diplomatic life is not easy. She constantly misses her extended big family back home. ‘It hurts knowing that there are only a few times when I am able to show my support’, she says. Also ‘diplomatic children are often affected by the constant changes, giving up their friends every couple of years and starting all over again someplace new’. She fully recognizes the toll which many diplomatic families pay, especially the accompanying spouses.
‘It is the untold story of the people living this life who are not part of the diplomatic system though. These people are the members of our family who follow us, especially our partners who most often sacrifice their careers for the sake of the family. I know so many of them who have spent a life to become successful and then had to give it all up. If you are not ready to make this sacrifice, sometimes relationships do not last for long. And if the accompanying spouse is male, it’s even more complicated. Many of the male diplomatic spouses become main caregivers and take full responsibility of raising family’s children. Believe me, the societal misconceptions weigh much heavier on them!’
She though, tells me that, for the moment, being a mother to her beautiful two daughters and a wife is far more rewarding than any of her own diplomatic achievements. Gently, she says: ‘I have many reasons to be thankful in life, as I measure happiness in the amount of love that I have received and given back throughout the years, in the number of extraordinary people that I have met along the way and changed the course of my life forever. It didn’t really matter where I lived, in Romania or abroad, my family was the driving force that made happiness a possible scenario everywhere’.
Obviously, beyond her aristocratic beauty lies an extremely sensitive and delicate soul. No wonder her passions are related to beauty, nature and arts. I’ve always been fascinated by her talent when it comes to flowers and decorations. She could have been a marvelous florist or event planner. Everything she touches turns magical and the humblest room gets royal brilliance. ‘My passion for flowers started more than a decade ago with my bridal bouquet made by a young and promising floral designer that later became a close and dear friend. Ever since, flowers were markers of momentous events in my life. Throughout the years, they became a way of expressing my feelings, a powerful tool for telling each time a different story and most of all, for telling people how much they meant to me. I think that my creative side succeeded in adding a little extra to the events hosted at our residence. I recently embraced the more airy and light Danish style, combining my favourite flowers, pink peonies, together with many delicate flowers from the garden’. I would also add that fate really has said its word here: her last name after marriage, ‘Gradinar’, means ‘gardener’ in Romanian…
Andreea Gradinar and her girls.
Together with her husband, now ambassador to Denmark since 2016, she proudly welcomed to their beautifully decorated home great personalities, politicians and also royal guests. She confesses that one of her proudest moments was when she hosted HM Margareta, the Custodian of the Romanian Crown and daughter to late king Michael of Romania, to an official Easter luncheon. Other great moments were, as she remembers, being received by HM Queen Margrethe II of Denmark and also being a guest at a gala dinner hosted by the Swedish monarch.
‘There is a world full of opportunities unfolding in front of us, we make connections and meet new people every day. There are so many activities where we can play a central role in order to support our partners. In my opinion everything in life happens with a purpose, we just need to be prepared for new challenges. I also believe that kindness is a gift everyone can afford to give. And this is something that I am trying to teach my two daughters, Ana and Alexa, using the power of my own example’.
It is generally said that inside beauty is always seen outside. Indeed, you take a look at her and you see it, you see a refined, cultivated and sensitive woman, like the delicate flowers, that she so much adores.
