The International Criminal Court (“ICC” or “Court”) condemns the economic sanctions imposed by the US earlier today on the Court’s Prosecutor and a member of her Office.
The new measures, announced pursuant to the US Executive Order 13928 dated 11 June 2020, are another attempt to interfere with the Court’s judicial
and prosecutorial independence and crucial work to address grave crimes of concern to the international community as mandated under the ICC Rome Statute.
These coercive acts, directed at an international judicial institution and its civil servants, are unprecedented and constitute serious attacks
against the Court, the Rome Statute system of international criminal justice, and the rule of law more generally.
The Court continues to stand firmly by its personnel and its mission of fighting impunity for the world’s most serious crimes under international
law, independently and impartially, in accordance with its mandate. In doing so, the Court benefits from the strong support and commitment of two thirds of the world’s States which are parties to the Rome Statute.
Gordan Bakota and Dr. Florian Herrmann – Picture by Bayerische Staatskanzlei, bayern.de
2 September 2020, Munich, Free State of Bavaria, Germany: Head of the Bavarian Chancellery, Dr. Florian Herrmann, Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and Media, received the visit of Croatian Ambassador Gordan Bakota, accredited in Germany since 7 January 2020.
The Ambassador was accompanied by Croatia’s Consul General in Munich, Vladimir Duvnjak, who serves in the Bavarian capital for the second time since 2018. Having previously being based out of Frankfurt am Main, and covering the Bundesländer Hesse, Rhineland-Palatinate as well as the Saarland.
Ambassador Gordan Bakota was previously in charge of the Embassy of Croatia in Austria, and has likewise been head of mission in Turkey (covering Afghanistan, Kyrgyzstan, Tajikistan, Turkmenistan and Uzbekistan) as well as in Serbia. In addition to his native Serbo-Croatian, he speaks English and German.
Arusha, The Hague, 1 September 2020 – The International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (Mechanism) today launched a new Unified Court Records database (UCR), which for the first time brings together all public judicial records of the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR), the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) and the Mechanism.
The UCR provides integrated and enhanced public access to a wide array of records from these three institutions, including indictments, trial transcripts, motions, orders, decisions and judgements, as well as public evidence admitted in court and audiovisual recordings of hearings.
In addition, the UCR has been designed to facilitate legal research by enabling searches across ICTR, ICTY and Mechanism records. The new search function allows users to better tailor their research according to their specific requirements. Users can search for materials in a more targeted way by selecting multiple cases, searching the full text or title of the records, or searching by other information such as date filed or admitted, accused name, document type, case name and case number. Among other features, the UCR also includes the ‘’Recent Court Records’’ function, which displays the latest 50 court records that have been added to the database.
Records in the UCR will be updated on a regular basis, and users are invited to provide feedback on the functionality of the UCR by sending an email to marshague@un.org. Other judicial records databases currently maintained by the Mechanism, including the ICTY Court Records (ICR) and Judicial Records and Archives Database (JRAD) will gradually be discontinued.
The UCR is accessible at the link ucr.irmct.org with prior registration for first-time users. In addition to English, the UCR is also available in Albanian, Bosnian/Croatian/Serbian, French, Kinyarwanda and Macedonian.
Prime Minister-designate Dr. Mustapha Adib and Henri Estramant, Royal Bridges’ Managing Director and Diplomat Magazine’s Diplomatic Adviser. Image by Royal Bridges
Monday, 31 August 2020, Beirut, Lebanese Republic: Lebanese leaders named diplomat Dr. Mustapha Adib as prime minister-designate. With its economy devastated by a financial crisis, a swathe of Beirut in tatters following a huge port explosion on 4 August, and sectarian tensions rising, Lebanon is facing the biggest threat to its stability since the 1975-90 civil war.
Dr. Adib, erstwhile ambassador to Germany and doyen of the Arab diplomatic corps in Berlin, was named hours before French President Emmanuel Macron is due in Beirut for his second visit in less than a month. The French president will push politicians to enact reforms that donors have demanded to tackle corruption, and waste before they might release financial support.
Adib holds a doctorate in law and political science, visited areas hardest hit by the port explosion that killed some 190 people and injured 6,000 shortly after his nomination. Prime Minister Adib (48 years old) is married to a French national, is father to five children, and hails from Tripoli in northern Lebanon.
Adib’s name surfaced on Sunday when he was nominated by former prime ministers, including Saad al-Hariri who heads Lebanon’s biggest Sunni Muslim party. The post of prime minister must go to a Sunni in the Lebanese system.
Hariri’s Future Movement and the powerful Iranian-backed Shi’ite party Hezbollah were among those nominating him. With Hariri’s backing, Adib will enjoy more support than the Diab government, which was nominated by Hezbollah and its allies which together have a parliamentary majority.
Ambassador of the Arab Union, Talal El Amine; Ambassador of Nigeria to Germany, Yusuf Tuggar; Sheikh Rashid Al Khalifa (artist Rashid Al Khalifa); Ambassador of Egypt, Khaled Abdelhamid; Dr. Mustapha Adib, Lebanon’s Prime Minister.
Dr. Peter Tschentscher – Picture by Senatskanzlei Hamburg.
Sunday, 30 August 2020, Prague, Czech Republic: First Mayor of Hamburg, Dr. Peter Tschentscher travelled to Hamburg’s twin city Prague. He is accompanied by Hamburg’s counsellor for foreign affairs, State Councillor Almut Möller. Hamburg and Prague are celebrating the 30th anniversary of their twinning this year.
To mark the 30th anniversary of German Unity in October, Mayor Tschentscher paid a visit the German Embassy in the afternoon. The latter was be followed by a tour of the Jewish Quarter with a visit to the Jewish cemetery and the Pinkas Synagogue.
In the evening, Mayor Tschentscher opened the concert series “musica non grata” at the Prague State Opera together with the Czech Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek and the Chairman of the Federation of Jewish Communities in the Czech Republic, Dr. Tomáš Kraus. Mayor Dr. Tschentscher represented Foreign Minister Heiko Maas therein, who was unable to attend the opening concert owing to recent changes in his schedule.
Czech Minister of Culture Lubomír Zaorálek & Mayor Dr. Peter Tschentscher – Picture by Hamburger Senatpressestelle.
Mayor Dr. Tschentscher was accompanied throughout his visit by the Deputy Chief of Mission of the German Embassy in Czechia, Dr. Hans-Peter Hinrichsen.
30th anniversary of the city twinning between Hamburg and Prague For 30 years, Hamburg and Prague have been linked by a city partnership. It was concluded in Hamburg on 19 April 1990 by Hamburg’s First Mayor Dr. Henning Voscherau and Prague’s Primator Jaroslav Korán. After the fall of the Iron Curtain, both cities resumed their historical relations and actively worked to overcome the division between Eastern and Western Europe. Today, there is a wide range of cooperation between Hamburg and Prague, in business, research and science, education and culture. Due to the Corona pandemic, some of the events marking the 30th anniversary of the town twinning were postponed until 2021. Further information:https://www.hamburg.de/prag/
Mayor Tschentscher: “Hamburg is proud of its friendship with its twin city Prague. Our cities have grown closer together over the past 30 years and now work together in many areas. There are numerous cooperations between our schools and universities, theatres and music stages. Our port has its own representative office in Prague, and more than half of Czech container traffic is handled through Hamburg. Hamburg and Prague are facing similar future challenges in climate protection and digitisation, which we can better master together”.
In the pic future Ambassador Hafsa Al Ulama and State Consellor Dr. Olaf Joachim – Picture by Bremen Landesvertretung beim Bund.
Wednesday, 19 August 2020, Berlin, Representation of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen: The Plenipotentiary of the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen to the German Federal Government, State Counsellor Dr. Olaf Joachim, received the Ambassador of the United Arab Emirates, Hafsa Abdulla Mohamed Sharif Al Ulama, at the Bremen representation in Berlin.
The ambassador’s inaugural visit to the state representation of the two-city state focused on the political and economic ties between the Free Hanseatic City of Bremen and the United Arab Emirates. There are currently around 90 Bremen companies that maintain contacts in both countries, trade or have branches.
Ambassador Al Ulama and the Plenipotentiary agreed that opportunities for future economic cooperation and trade lie above all in the fields of ports, logistics, renewable energies, aerospace and aviation. In this context, the ambassador also pointed out that in mid-July the United Arab Emirates became the first Arab country ever to send a probe into space as part of its Mars mission “Hope“.
In addition to current political topics such as the effects of the COVID 19 pandemic, the situation on the Arabian Peninsula and in the Middle East, the recent diplomatic rapprochement between the Emirates and Israel, the “direct neighbourhood policy” was also discussed in Hiroshimastraße in Berlin-Tiergarten.
State Minister Dr. Florian Herrmann & Ambassador Tomáš Kafka – Picture by Czech Embassy in Berlin.
Thursday, 27 August 2020, Czech Embassy to the Federal Republic of Germany: Recently accredited Czech Ambassador to Germany, Tomáš Kafka welcomed at the Czech Chancery in Berlin, the Bavarian Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and Media, Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, for an exchange focused on the vibrant relations between the two countries.
Prague is the seat to a representation of the Free State of Bavaria since December 2014; both countries share lengthy historical ties, and an intertwined economy.
Concretely Germany and Czechia are supporting a German-Czech Future Fund whose first networking meeting takes place between 11-12 September in Prague and is oriented towards organisations working in the field of ecology, climate protection, or sustainability.
Friday, 28 August, 2020, Berlin, Representation of Bavaria to the German Federation: United Arab Emirates’ Ambassador to Germany, Hafsa Abdalla Al Ulama paid a courtesy call upon the Head of Bavarian Chancery at his Bundesland’s representation in Berlin.
Dr. Florian Herrmann, Head of the Bavarian State Chancellery, Minister of State for Federal and European Affairs and Media, conveyed Bavaria’s congratulations to the Emirati leadership for recently establishing diplomatic relations with the State of Israel. The latter topic as well as possibilities to stabilise the Middle East region were focus of the verbal exchange between the dignitaries.
The air connections between Munich and the UAE were further discussed as were specific mutual investments. Moreover healthcare, food security, water technology and renewable energies were on the agenda.
Ambassador Hafsa Al Ulama holds a BA in Economics from San Diego State University as well as a MSc in Analysis, Design and Management of Information Systems from London School of Economics and Political Science. She presented her credentials to Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier on Monday, 8 June 2020 at Bellevue Palace.
Thursday, 20 August 2020, Berlin, Bellevue Palace, Germany: The Czech Republic’s erstwhile Deputy Vice-Minister of European Affairs (2017-2020), Tomáš Kafka (b. 1965), was accredited as his country’s ambassador to Germany after presenting credentials to Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Ambassador Kafka already served once in Berlin at the outset of his diplomatic career between 1991 and 1995 in the capacity of Attaché for Culture, Press, Research and Education at the then branch office of the Embassy of the Czech and Slovak Federative Republic. His first ambassadorship took his to Dublin as ambassador to Ireland from 2008 to 2013.
From 2014 he was the Director for Central Europe at the Foreign Ministry, and since 2017 jointly Deputy Vice-Minister for European Affairs. He is fluent in German, English and Russian.
Mayor Jan van Zanen receives first Embassy Festival Surprise Box
Cooking demonstrations with international dishes, Irish Dancing in front of the iconic Binnenhof, specially recorded performances by artists that have played at the festival in previous years, an online pubquiz, interviews with ambassadors and Mexican dancing at the Lange Voorhout.
It’s a small selection of the many online activities presented by The Embassy Festival this year. The highlight of their efforts will be the festival weekend on Friday 4 and Saturday 5 September, when all the content that has been made with the nearly 40 participating embassies will be published online. A festival surprise and wine box has also been created, as well as a recipe book, filled with traditional recipes. All were put together with help from the before-mentioned embassies.
With the recipe booklet and box, visitors will have the opportunity to smell, taste and discover the many flavors and scents normally experienced at the International Market. Mayor of The Hague, Jan van Zanen, received the first Embassy Festival Surprise Box earlier this week.
“The Embassy Festival is a special festival for The Hague. In the past eight years, they’ve offered a cultural round-the-world trip in two days at the Lange Voorhout and shown its visitors how culture can bring people closer together. Several embassies are offering a chance to get to know their culture and traditions through music, art, dance and much more. My appeal to you is to visit the Embassy Festival online this year! They will bring people together online this year and I wish you a wonderful time!” – mayor Jan van Zanen
Embassy Festival 2020
A Round-The-World Trip from the Comfort of Your Home
In previous years, tens of thousands of people would flock to the Lange Voorhout for an exciting cultural round-the-world trip. This year, the festival is re-creating that experience online. Travel the world and experience cultural activities from e.g. Chile, Moldova, Bangladesh, Costa Rica and El Salvador from the comfort of your home.
In the run-up to the festival weekend snippets of content, such as videos and interviews, will be released through embassyfestival.com. During the festival weekend itself, 4 and 5 September, more than 50 videos will be released, and everyone will receive their previously ordered Embassy Festival Surprise boxes and/or Recipe Booklets. A live and online pub quiz will also be part of the online programme. Everybody can join in free of charge on the 3rd and 4th of September at 7pm sharp. Knowledge about the festival and the participating embassies will be put to the test by host Mark O’Loughlin, well-known in The Hague and beyond for his international pub quizzes, as well as being a host during the regular Embassy Festival editions. Participants will also be able to win fantastic prizes.
Embassy Festival 2020
From Festival site to Warehouse
The team would normally be busy preparing for the offline version of the Embassy Festival right about now. This year, it’s a whole different story. At the office of organizers PROOOST, a logistical operation has been set in place where everyone, festival director included, is preparing to fill and send boxes to homes all over the Netherlands.
The Embassy Festival Surprise box has proven to be an enormous success. Order for the box can be placed until Sunday 30 August. From every corner of the land, orders are pouring in. “We’ve been completely overwhelmed by the response and support. Not just from the embassies who have wholeheartedly participated, but also from artists that have played at the festival in previous years and of course our visitors, who are ordering surprise boxes’ and enjoying our online content.
We, as much as them, would’ve rather seen each other at the Lange Voorhout, but they’ve let us know that they very much appreciate the online alternative we’re offering. Something we’re tremendously proud of. We hope to receive a lot of happy videos and pictures during the festival weekend, from happy visitors joining us from their home.” – festival director Carly Dutton.
