On 9 November 2020, the Minister of Foreign Affairs of Romania, HE Bogdan Aurescu, visited the International Criminal Court to meet with the President of the Court, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji, and the Registrar Peter Lewis.
“Romania is a supporter of a rule- based international order and international law and is committed to the unique role the ICC has in preventing and sanctioning the most serious crimes of concerns to the international community,” Minister HE. Bogdan Aurescu stated. “The Court has established itself as an indispensable piece of the international justice system …I acknowledge the efforts of the ICC to meet its mandate even during these difficult times,” the Minister said.
The Minister also presented an artwork donation from the Government of Romania. The artwork is a painting representing Vespasian V. Pella (1897 -1952), Romanian lawyer, scholar, diplomat, teacher, a pioneer of international criminal law and an early advocate of the idea of establishing an International Criminal Court. The Minister emphasised that Romania wanted to thus “pay tribute to a man of great value and to give the artwork to the very institution he had imagined and designed but not lived to see up and functioning.”
ICC President, Judge Chile Eboe-Osuji thanked Minister Aurescu for Romania’s support to the Court and for the donation. “It is a great honour and pleasure to accept this gift. It is the right place for Professor Vespasian V. Pella’s portrait to hang; he lives not only in this room but also in the jurisprudence of the ICC.”
Romania signed the Rome Statute – the Court’s founding treaty – on 7 July 1999 and deposited its instrument of ratification of the Rome Statute on 11 April 2002. Minister Aurescu’s visit to the ICC highlights Romania’s support to the Court and the joint efforts deployed in the fight against the impunity of the perpetrators of the most serious crimes that affect the international community as a whole.
Since the move to its new permanent premises in December 2015, the ICC received artwork donations from the Governments of Belgium, Canada, Cyprus, Denmark, Japan, Republic of Korea, Liechtenstein, Mexico, The Netherlands, Portugal, Senegal, Slovenia, and Tunisia, representing their cultural heritage as well as reflecting the mandate of the Court.
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, Berlin-Tiergarten, Germany: At the Langhans Hall in Bellevue Palace, Australia’s Ambassador to Germany, Philip Victor Green, was accredited as the commonwealth’s top diplomatic envoy before Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. He was accompanied to the ceremony by his consort, Susan Green. Philip Green is a senior career diplomat at the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade, and was most recently First Assistant Secretary, United States and Indo-Pacific Strategy Division, that is to say, in charge of overseeing relations vis-à-vis the USA, Canada as well as the ASEAN member states.
Previously he served overseas as head of mission in Singapore (2012-2016), South Africa (2004-2008) and Kenya (1998-2000). Ambassador Green holds a Bachelor of Arts with First Class Honours as well as a Bachelor of Laws from the University of Sydney. He is a recipient of the Order of Australia.
Ambassador Philip Green shall in the near future be accredited as well to the Principality of Liechtenstein and the Swiss Confederation as per the co-accreditations assigned to the embassy located in Germany.
Migrant workers in the Dutch agricultural sector experience unfair labour practices, including structurally poor wages and living standards, insecure contracts and hazardous working conditions.
A closer look into the Netherlands agricultural sector by researchers at the International Institute of Social Studies revealed that there are a variety of institutional, structural and associational mechanisms that disempower migrant workers.
After the Covid-19 pandemic placed migrant workers’ precarity in the spotlight, the Dutch government established the Aanjaagteam Bescherming Arbeidsmigranten (Migrant Worker Protection Taskforce) in May 2020. The Taskforce recently released a second set of recommendationsOpens external (in Dutch), further opening up the discussion on how best to address the issue at hand.
The policy brief below contributes to this discussion with a number of recommendations that aim to strengthen the position of migrants in the whole agricultural chain. The brief was presented at a multi-stakeholder event in October 2020 attended, amongst others, by a representative of the Taskforce.
Download the policy brief
The policy brief is available in both English and Dutch. Please feel free to download it and share within your networks.
In the picture Ambassador Jill Gallard. Copyright Ivana Ross-Brookbank for British Embassy Berlin.
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, Berlin, Federal Republic of Germany: The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland has a novel top envoy in Germany, Ambassador Jill Gallard, who was accredited at Bellevue Palace before German Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier.
Before joining the British Embassy in Germany, Her Britannic Majesty’s Ambassador Jill Gallard was the Foreign and Commonwealth Office’s Deputy Political Director from 2018 up to October 2020, and previously Director of Human Resources from 2014 to 2018. From 2011 to 2014 Jill Gallard served as British Ambassador to Portugal.
She is a career diplomat who joined the foreign service in 1991. Ambassador Gallard grew up in Northern Ireland, and speaks German, French, Spanish and Portuguese as well as smatterings of Czech. Gallard’s accreditation precedes the upcoming visit of Their Royal Highnesses The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall to take place on Sunday, 15 November in Berlin. It shall be a première for British royals to partake at Germany’s National Day of Mourning, wherein Britain’s heir to the throne shall hold an allocution.
The National Day of Mourning focuses this year on the German-British freundship, which has grown in the 75 years since the end of the Second World War.
Germany’s President Frank-Walter Steinmeier attended a British remembrance day service in 2018. On the other side, the trip by The Prince of Wales and The Duchess of Cornwall will represent the first visit by a British royals to Germany’s main remembrance event.
The Prince of Wales first travelled to the then West Germany in 1962, and has since visited Germany over 30 times in a public and private capacity, last making a trip there in May 2019.
H.E. Sheikh Abdulla bin Mohammed bin Saud Thani – Picture by Ooredoo.
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, Berlin, Germany: Qatar’s top envoy to Germany, Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani, was accredited at Bellevue Palace located in Berlin-Tiergarten by Federal President Dr. Frank-Walter Steinmeier. Thereafter the two dignitaries held a tête-à-tête in the Salon Luise wherein Ambassador Sheikh Abdullah conveyed to the German government the warm regards of Qatar’s leadership.
Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud Al Thani (b. 20 November 1959) replaced Ambassador Mohamed Al Kuwari (in office from 21 November 2019 through 30 August 2020) as chef de mission in Germany. Sheikh Abdullah was appointed as per Emiri Decree No. 34 for the year 2020.
He has a background in both, the private sector and government, having served as Chairman of the Board of Directors of Ooredoo Group, a position he had held since 2000. From 2000 to 2005 he was likewise the Chief of Amiri Diwan – a position today occupied by a former ambassador to Germany, Sheikh Saoud bin Abdulrahman bin Hassan bin Ali Al Thani.
Since 2018 Sheikh Abdullah bin Mohammed bin Saud holds the rank of Minister of State as per Emiri fiat. He was the Chief Executive Officer of Qatar Investment Authority (QIA) from December 2014 up to 2018 when he was replaced by Mansoor bin Ebrahim Al Mahmoud.
Qatar’ss Chancery located in Berlin maintains a diplomatic office in Bonn as well as a General Consulate in Munich, and is concurrently accredited to the Czech Republic.
October 30, AD Haagsche Courant – By Leo van Der Velde.
With Diplomat Magazine, an English-language print and online magazine written by and for diplomats in the European Union, Dr. Mayelinne de Lara reaches the diplomatic corps at large as well as international businesses with the rather global publication. Because of the ongoing pandemic, receptions, farewell parties and food festivals organised by the publisher are cancelled for the foreseeable future.
“Certainly, in this particular moment in our history, the COVID-19 pandemic is challenging us all, nevertheless the latter merely scratches the surface! Diplomats are working much more behind the scenes, reaching out in very creative ways. The latter adds to the regular working hours at the chanceries, and teleworking on a daily basis.
As flights were cancelled, hundreds of foreign citizens found themselves stranded in Europe; thus the diplomatic community swiftly mobilised to provide their citizens with repatriation assistance. Webinars connecting diplomats to their governments, to relevant authorities and ministries and to their business partners in are ongoing quotidian. One-to-one meetings, and hundreds of emails rather than tête-à-têtes are part of today’s normalcy.
I think, beyond COVID-19’s negative impact, also opportunities arise adapting to novel working scenarios. That’s why our extra-thick issue of Diplomat Magazine just appeared this month followed last week by a newsletter.
We are to redesign the online magazine to make it more attractive and easier to read with new sections like podcasts, new ambassadors, a French section, in which we open the possibility to expose relevant global issues in French, “la langue par excellence de la diplomatie, et du droit” and an innovative online market-place. We have received a plethora of positive responses to the updates, and this is very encouraging. We are also visiting the embassies to find out how we can help them to promote their agenda. Diplomat Magazine would likewise be glad to be a partner for advertisement from trade, and tourism agencies from your country.
We organised all our annual events for the diplomatic community on a smaller scale: VII Diplomats Welcome After Summer, V Biking Spree and IV Diplomats Run & Walk. I do not want to miss 2020 in our calendar! We are planning the very near future with care, no more long-term plans, definitely an ongoing stimulant for our daily tasks.”
Isn’t everything standing still? Have many ambassadors left for their home country? Many already left the country and we organised a small-scale Ceremony of Merit for a few. We are also visiting the new ambassadors and publishing about them in a new section dedicated to new arrivals.
In the picture, the Prime Minister of the Kingdom of Bahrain, HRH Crown Prince Salman bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa – State Department photo by Ron Przysucha, public domain
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, Riffa, Kingdom of Bahrain: Royal Order 44/2020 issued by His Majesty King Hamad II bin Isa Al Khalifa announced the appointment of the country’s heir presumptive to the throne, HRH Prince Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa as the novel, and only second prime minister of Bahrain after the demise of the first office holder earlier today.
Hitherto Prince Salman bin Hamad had been serving as the island’s First Deputy Prime Minister in addition to being the crown prince and Deputy Commander of the Armed Forces. At the Prime Minister’s Court he was in charged with overseeing the ongoing development of executive agencies and government institutions in the kingdom. Since 2002, Prince Salman is chairman of the Economic Development Board (EDB).
Prince Salman bin Hamad (b. 21 October 1969) holds a BA degree in Political Science from the American University in Washington D.C., in addition to a MPhil degree in History and Philosophy of science from Queens’ College, University of Cambridge, UK. He is the eldest son of Bahrain’s monarch and the latter’s regal spouse, HRH Princess Sabika bint Ibrahim Al Khalifa, Chair of the Supreme Council for Women.
Crown Prince Salman is accustomed to chairing cabinet meetings, stepping in whenever his late uncle, the late Prime Minister Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa was absent or indisposed. Internationally he is known for his business oriented style, his affability and English fluency.
Wednesday, 11 November 2020, Rochester, Minnesota, United States of America: Bahrain’s Prime Minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa passed away aged 84.
He had been installed as prime minister in January 1970. Thus, he reached over 50 years in office, and was de jure the doyen of heads of government worldwide. The late prime minister was the first and thus far only prime minister in the country since it officially became independent from Britain in 1971.
Son of Bahrain’s former ruler (Hakim), Salman bin Hamad Al Khalifa, who ruled from 1942 to 1961, Khalifa bin Salman learned governance at his father’s side as the island remained a British protectorate. The latter’s brother, Hakim Isa bin Salman Al Khalifa, took power in 1961 and served as monarch when Bahrain gained its independence in 1971. Under an informal arrangement, Hakim Isa handled the island’s diplomacy, ceremonial duties as well as the Armed Forces while Khalifa bin Salman ran the government and economy.
Prince Khalifa bin Salman perished at Mayo Clinic Hospital in Minnesota. His body shall be repatriated, and a funeral service held for a limited number of relatives in a similar fashion as with the late Emir of Kuwait, Sabah IV Al-Ahmed Al-Jabr Al Sabah who died aged 91 likewise in Rochester, Minnesota back in September 2020.
An official mourning period of one week has been declared in the Kingdom of Bahrain.
King Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa as Bahrain’s head of state will appoint the next head of government. Prince Khalifa’s son, Sheikh Ali bin Khalifa Al Khalifa currently serves as Second Deputy Prime Minister.
Bahrain in located in the Middle East, connected to Saudi Arabia through the King Fahd Causeway. The country includes 35 islands.
As prime minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman, leaves behind a legacy of modernisation, economic boom, and social vicissitudes that transformed the island state into a successful economy, a financial centre, and a preferred destination for expatriates in the Gulf region.
Prince Khalifa’s demise marks the end of an era of leaders in power when Britain’s protectorate ended.
On the picture the late Prime Minister, Prince Khalifa bin Salman Al Khalifa and Diplomatic Magazine’s Diplomatic Adviser Henri Estramant at Qudaibiya Palace in Manama, Kingdom of Bahrain.
La fin de la guerre froide nous avait promis un monde capitaliste, libre et heureux. Or, trente-et-un ans (octobre 2020) après la chute du mur de Berlin en 1989, nous sommes dans un monde plus que jamais divisé et en proie à la désintégration.
La paix mondiale est menacée, alors qu’elle est non seulement souhaitée, mais nécessaire pour le bien-être des peuples de la planète.
Force est de constater que la mondialisation de l’économie n’a pas, à elle seule, suffit à redistribuer, comme escompté, les ressources et les bénéfices des échanges internationaux. Au contraire, dans certains cas la mondialisation économique a marchandé même les êtres humains, elle a durcit les relations humaines en les centrant uniquement au tour de la valeur argent. La mondialisation économique a créé des richesses qui ont été concentrées dans les mains d’une minorité mondiale au dépends de la majorité.
Il est désormais reconnu que l’aide au développement et la politique commerciale d’inspiration libérale n’ont suffit ni à harmoniser le monde ni à créer des revenus stables pour la majorité de la population mondiale. Au contraire, elles ont souvent créé des distorsions systémiques. Ces distorsions ont renforcé la dépendance des pays pauvres des pays riches tout en rendant les écarts entre les riches et les pauvres encore plus évidents, tant entre pays qu’à l’intérieur des pays les plus riches.
Cette situation est source d’instabilité est mondiale.
La pauvreté reste le facteur dominant dans beaucoup de pays du monde.
L’exploitation des pays pauvres par les pays industrialisés dans le cadre de la division internationale du travail demeure. Cette division n’a pas été réduite par la mondialisation de l’économie. Dans beaucoup de cas, les pays du Sud restent encore en situation de dépendance économique et politique des pays riches.
Pour ces raisons il est nécessaire de remettre le multilatéralisme onusien et commercial (Organisation Mondiale du Commerce) au centre des débats politiques mondiaux.
Mais, il faut en modifier les règles de fonctionnement, entre autres, en élargissant le nombre de membres permanents du Conseil de Sécurité et en réévaluant l’idée de veto pour rendre sa prise de décision adaptée aux changements du monde.
Il est aussi nécessaire de rendre les rôles des Secrétaires-Généraux des institutions onusiennes plus visibles et politiquement libres. Ces figures doivent pouvoir prendre position dans les débats internationaux qui soient dans l’intérêt de la justice mondiale. Ce n’est pas le cas dans le fonctionnement actuel.
Certes, l’Europe a un rôle à jouer dans la reconstruction de la paix mondiale.
Certes, la cause des Nations Unies est noble.
Mais, tant que les politiciens européens joueront pour des intérêts économiques nationaux, à court terme, contre la stabilité mondiale à long terme leur contribution ne marquera pas le progrès mondial.
Et tant que les Nations Unies resteront dans une vision des années 50 du monde, et choisiront de ne pas prendre de positions courageuses sur la situation actuelle du monde, notamment en matière de maintien de la paix et de la santé publique mondiale l’opinion publique sera, à tort ou à raison, de plus en plus hostile à ses institutions et à ses actions.
Le monde a besoin de courage et de justice sociale !
Sans justice sociale pas de développement économique durable.
Sans justice sociale pas de paix durable.
Les événements récents montrent que l’Europe n’échappe pas à cette réalité.
Les Nations Unies ne peuvent plus rester silencieuses face aux inégalités criantes du monde, y compris dans les pays riches.
Quel rôle pour l’Europe ?
L’Europe doit jouer son rôle dans la construction de la paix mondiale, y compris au sein des Nations Unies.
Mais, le manque d’une réelle politique étrangère commune et d’une fédération qui aille au-delà des intérêts nationaux affaiblit sa capacité décisionnelle en matière de politique étrangère.
Cet état de fait contraint l’Europe à agir dans l’urgence sans pouvoir engager une réflexion à long terme.
L’Europe semble être dans l’impasse.
Pour sortir de l’impasse, l’Europe doit ouvrir un débat sur son avenir politique, y compris au sein des Nations Unies. La crise des institutions européennes, comme de celles du système des Nations Unies, est le miroir de la crise du monde contemporain. Un monde déstructuré et en proie au chaos dans lequel les intérêts individuels et ceux des plus forts prévalent sur la paix et la justice sociales.
La philosophie libérale s’est insinuée dans les rouages du multilatéralisme en l’affaiblissant en faveur du repli sur soi des pays qui avaient une tradition de dialogue international.
L’Europe et les Nations Unies sont aussi en quelque sorte les victimes de la course des Etats aux intérêts politiques nationaux à court terme.
Et les Nations Unies?
L’hostilité à l’égard des Nations Unies grandit dans le monde.
Alors que les Nations Unies n’arrivent plus à constituer une masse critique en faveur de la paix mondiale. Ce système est perçu comme étant un monde à part qui parle à lui-même, qui est décroché des réalités des peuples du monde, et qui parfois travallerait même contre les peuples.
Malgré les efforts faits par les bonnes volontés, le système mondial reste dans l’impasse.
Le fonctionnement des Nations Unies est celui de l’après-guerre de 1948. Il s’agit d’un puzzle composé par les Etats-Nations dont le poids décisionnel à l’intérieur du système est fondé sur leur capacité militaire, leur puissance technologique et leur développement économique. Cette vision est décrochée du monde actuel. Un monde dans lequel la puissance est diffuse.
Le monde contemporain est multipolaire.
La puissance militaire ne détermine plus la victoire face aux nouvelles formes de « guerre » comme le terrorisme. L’influence et la puissance des Etats se désintègrent face à la mondialisation du terrorisme.
Ainsi les tiraillements entre les puissances du Conseil de sécurité rendent la prise de décision longue et inadéquate aux changements rapides du monde contemporain.
Le positionnement politique des Nations Unies est faible.
Cette faiblesse est le résultat de compromis fondés sur les intérêts nationaux des grandes puissances de l’après-guerre et non sur ce qui est nécessaire à la stabilité mondiale. Les positions des Nations Unies sont diluées dans le compromis. Un compromis souvent en défaveur des plus faibles car dicté par les besoins financiers du système.
Le temps est venu de sortir de la lassitude et de reprendre le chemin de l’action pour la paix mondiale.
Sur l’auteur:
Mariarosaria Iorio
Mariarosaria Iorio est une analyste politique, passionnée des relations internationales et de la politique africaine. Mariarosaria a une longue expérience dans l’analyse des relations internationales, tant en ce qui concerne le multilatéralisme que les relations UE-ACP.
Son itinéraire professionnel a commencé en 1991 au Bureau International du Travail et a continué à l’Organisation Mondiale du Commerce ainsi que dans le monde universitaire et des ONG. Son livre Global Governance Trade and the Crisis in Europe présente ses réflexions sur la gouvernance globale, la crise en Europe and le commerce international. Il peut être commandé sur www.fnac.fr. Ses autres articles sont disponibles inter alia sur son profil linkedIN Mariarosaria IORIO, Political Writer and African Peace Facility. Elle peut être contactée à travers la messagerie de son profil linkedIn.
Art & Jazz is a collective around 90 artists in all conceivable disciplines and is accommodated in a foundation. Our aim is to make art accessible to a widest as possible audience and to connect art and society. We do this by regularly organizing public events where art is shown and the public can get to know the creators of the art personally.
The Hague is the International City of Justice and Peace and the diplomatic capital of the Netherlands. We would like to bring our activities to the attention of diplomats and all the others who are accredited in The Hague.
We want to introduce our special collective to this international community, which represents the whole world in The Hague. We provide exhibitions for our affiliated artists, in buildings, in the dunes, on markets and online.
For example, now we have an online exhibition about Corona-art, 24 artists exhibit their work on our website. Special is that 24 poets wrote a beautiful poem about each one of the artworks.
Another great event we will be organizing next summer, on June 5 and 6 2021, in collaboration with another art club and with Dunea, the water company and administrator of the Meijendel nature park. This event is called DuneArt. DuneArt is an event for everyone, young and old. Artists create art “en plein air”, poets recite their poems. There are workshops for adults, there is jazz music and “last but not least” there are children’s workshops, children can make a piece of art with natural remains found in the dunes under the inspiring guidance of instructors. You are invited. You can stay informed about all our activities by our website www.artandjazz.nl
For additional information:
Theo Schouten / secretaris@artandjazz.nl 00316 36135862
