Prosecutor on Mission to Kigali

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Prosecutor on Mission to Kigali

Arusha, 3 September 2020– Mechanism Prosecutor Serge Brammertz visited Kigali from 25 August to 3 September 2020. This was the Prosecutor’s first visit to Kigali since the arrest of Félicien Kabuga on 16 May 2020.
During this visit, the Prosecutor met with various officials from the Republic of Rwanda including Dr Vincent Biruta, the Minister of Foreign Affairs and Cooperation, Mr Johnston Busingye, the Minister of Justice, Mr Aimable Havugiyaremye, the Prosecutor General and the heads of security and law enforcement services to intensify efforts to track and arrest the remaining Mechanism fugitives and to progress ongoing case-related investigations following the arrest of Félicien Kabuga. 

The Prosecutor also met the Executive Secretary of the CNLG together with representatives of several victims associations including IBUKA, AERG and AVEGA AGAHOZO. The Prosecutor reiterated the Office’s commitment to pursue justice for the victims and survivors. All representatives of the different authorities and associations expressed their gratitude and their commitment to support the Mechanism efforts in the tracking of remaining fugitives and support in the Kabuga investigations. 

As part of preparations for his regular biannual report to the UN Security Council (UNSC), the Prosecutor also met with members of the international community, expressing gratitude for the invaluable support provided towards Kabuga’s arrest. The Prosecutor requested the continued support of the international community in the search and arrest of the remaining six fugitives indicted by the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda. 

It is expected that Prosecutor Brammertz will present his next report to the UNSC in December 2020. 

Speaker of Bangladesh National Parliament visited The Hague

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Speaker of Bangladesh National Parliament visited The Hague

Honorable Speaker of Bangladesh National Parliament (Jatiya Sangsad), Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury, paid a courtesy visit to Bangladesh Embassy in the Netherlands on August 31. 

H.E. Ambassador Hamidullah welcoming Dr. Chaudhury.

Welcomed at the Chancery by Ambassador Riaz Hamidullah, in interactions with the Mission staff, Hon Speaker shared the Government’s vision and some of the key policy orientations towards emergence of Bangladesh as a responsible – humanitarian – inclusive State.

Ambassador Riaz Hamidullah welcoming Dr Shirin Sharmin Chaudhury together with his diplomatic staff.

ASP President, O-Gon Kwon, rejects US measures against ICC

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ASP President, O-Gon Kwon, rejects US measures against ICC

Today the Government of the United States announced concrete measures against the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court and a senior staff member in her office. I strongly reject such unprecedented and unacceptable measures against a treaty-based international organization. They only serve to weaken our common endeavor to fight impunity for mass atrocities.

The Court is an independent and impartial judicial institution. It operates in strict adherence to the provisions of the Rome Statute. The ICC is complementary to national jurisdictions and thus recognizes the primary jurisdiction of States themselves. This is the cornerstone of the Statute. Further, the Assembly of States Parties and the Court have together embarked on wide-ranging review process to strengthen the Rome Statute system and improve the Court’s performance and efficiency.

We stand by our Court and its staff as well as those cooperating with it in implementing its judicial mandate. A meeting of the Bureau of the Assembly will take place shortly to consider the measures imposed by the United States and ways to give effect to our unstinting support for the Court.

I call upon the States Parties and all the stakeholders in the Rome Statute system to reiterate once again our unwavering commitment to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Statute and to preserve its integrity undeterred by any measures and threats against the Court and its officials, staff and their families.

International Criminal Court condemns US economic sanctions

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International Criminal Court condemns US economic sanctions

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.

Croatia’s Gordan Bakota in exchanges with Bavaria

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Croatia’s Gordan Bakota in exchanges with Bavaria

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. 

For further information Government of Bavaria: https://www.bayern.de/service/fotoreihen/?frid=in140489&fbclid=IwAR34j_a3XaQV4vzblCVHYfsP_pbdDHoYi8yvloz-0O6Pxzs2qgINR2lCISk

Croat-German relations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Croatia–Germany_relations

Mechanism launches Unified Court Records database

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Mechanism launches Unified Court Records database

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.

Lebanon appoints Prime Minister

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Lebanon appoints Prime Minister

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.

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. Photography by © Isa Foltin

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.

For further information Dr. Mustapha Adib on Diplomat Magazine: https://diplomatmagazine.eu/?s=Mustapha+Adib

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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. 

Hamburg & Prague celebrate 30 years of partnership

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Hamburg & Prague celebrate 30 years of partnership

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”.

For further information 
https://www.hamburg.de/pressearchiv-fhh/14252722/2020-08-30-sk-pragreise-buergermeister/

https://www.skyfish.com/p/fhh/1786035

Hafsa Al Ulama at Bremen Representation

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Hafsa Al Ulama at Bremen Representation

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.

For further information 
Bremen State Chancellery: https://www.senatspressestelle.bremen.de/detail.php?gsid=bremen146.c.342193.de&asl=bremen02.c.732.de

Image by Representation of Bremen to the German Federation/Landesvertregung Bremens beim Bund…

Czech-Bavarian exchanges in Berlin

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Czech-Bavarian exchanges in Berlin

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. 

For further information 
Czech-German cooperation in climate change and sustainability: https://www.mzv.cz/berlin/de/pressemitteilungen_reden_texte/x2020_07_09_Setkani_CNFB.html

Bavarian Representation to the Czech Republic: https://www.bayern.de/staatsregierung/bayern-in-prag/, https://www.bayern.de/staatsregierung/bayern-in-prag/bavorsko-v-praze/cesko-bavorske-vztahy/

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