The annual tradition before the state opening of parliament, known as “Prinsjesdag” was lot different this because of Covid. Usually it takes place at the Grote Kerk with hundreds of guests – of all religious denominiations – including members of the government and parliament.
Now the Prince’s day celebration was reduced, but important enough not to abolish. The venue Roman Catholic St. James church at Parkstraat, guests included Prime Minister Mark Rutte, Minister of Justice Ferd Grapperhaus and Minister of Defence Ank Bijleveld.
The chairman of Prinsjesdag Stichting (Prince’s Day Foundation) is the well known Roman Catholic pastor in The Hague Dr Ad van der Helm. But that’s not all he does, he’s – amongst other positions – adjunct-professor of canon law at Leuven University (Belgium), a clerical judge for Surinam and chair of The Hague Council of Churches. It was the first time that Prince’s Day celebration was aired on national television. Vicar van der Helm’s, welcoming speech:
“We have noticed in recent months that human life is precious. Because of care and because of the economic situation, extra money is being spent on supporting people. It takes courage and guts to spend so much money.
In spite of this generosity, tensions are growing and irritation is increasing. People feel that their fundamental rights are being eroded.
We would almost forget that this year we are commemorating 75 years of freedom.
What do we do with this freedom?
In the following clips, peacemakers will have their say. They draw on their personal convictions to express this peace and to give it substance, because human life is precious.
Religious streams see in man a reflection of the Eternal. They each express this with their own words and with different images. Humanism underlines the inviolability of mankind. The great diversity of people confirms this starting point. Take a look at the passers-by in the clips: they are all precious.
We have recently experienced unprecedented restrictions on freedom in peacetime. However, precisely in isolation that people have come closer together. Through special initiatives of connection, people have supported each other and helped each other through difficult times. We need to hold on to each other in the time to come.
So, there are always choices to be made, because the other is precious. Freedom to protect the other person’s precious, that is our motto today. For now I wish you a moment of peace and rest”.
Photography by Ad van der Helm with His Holiness Pope Franciscus. Source: www.advanderhelm.nl
Ambassador Wu Ken & Premier Dietmar Woidke – Picture by Staatskanzlei Brandenburg.
Monday, 21 September 2020, Brandenburg: Wu Ken, the People’s Republic of China Ambassador to Germany paid his inaugural visit to Brandenburg, and was received by Premier Dietmar Woidke.
The LKT Lausitzer Klärtechnik GmbH located in Luckau was selected for a commercial side to the visit. During Premier Woidke’s 2018 economic mission to China, the former company’s Managing Director Michael Müller signed a contract for 300 biological small sewage treatment plants and three larger plants.
Thus far some are installed, and provide for better environmental protection in the southern Chinese province of Fujian. LKT is an important employer for the region with now 62 employees (over 50% more from 10 years ago) and 4 apprenticeships.
The discovered case of African swine fever in Brandenburg was also discussed between the ambassador and premier. Therefore Premier Woidke campaigns for the import ban on pork to China to be relaxed.
President Trump & Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Jabr Al Sabah – Picture by US Department of State.
Friday, 18 September 2020, Washington D.C., USA: His Highness The Emir of the State of Kuwait, Sheikh Sabah IV Al-Ahmad Al-Jaber Al-Ali Al Sabah was awarded the Legion of Merit with the rank of Chief Commander.
The Emir’s son, and erstwhile minister of Diwan of Amiri Diwan, former Deputy Prime Minister and Minister of Defence, HE Sheikh Nasser Sabah Al-Ahmad Al-Sabah accepted the accolade on the Kuwaiti head of state’s behalf in a private ceremony at the White House from the hands of President Donald Trump. The Emir thus became the first recipient of this prestigious honour since 1991, and only the third Arab leader to ever be awarded the Legion of Merit.
A leader in the Middle East for decades, the Emir has been a truly unwavering friend and partner to the United States. He provided indispensable support to the United States throughout Operation Iraqi Freedom, Operation Enduring Freedom, and the Defeat-ISIS campaign. The Emir is also an unparalleled diplomat, having served as his nation’s foreign minister for 40 years. His tireless mediation of disputes in the Middle East has bridged divides under the most challenging circumstances.
ICC Pre-Trial Chamber I rejects Comoros’ request for judicial review of the Prosecutor’s decision not to open an investigation
Pre-Trial Chamber I of the International Criminal Court (‘ICC’) issued on September 16 its decision rejecting the request submitted by the Government of the Comoros seeking a judicial review of the Prosecutor’s decision not to proceed with an investigation with respect to crimes allegedly committed in the context of the 31 May 2010 Israeli interception of the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for the Gaza Strip.
By way of background, on 14 May 2013, the Union of the Comoros – a State Party to the Rome Statute – referred to the ICC Prosecutor the situation concerning ‘the 31 May 2010 Israeli raid of the Humanitarian Aid Flotilla bound for Gaza Strip’.
On 6 November 2014, the Prosecutor decided not to initiate an investigation, as she considered that the potential case(s) likely to arise following an investigation would not be of ‘sufficient gravity’ to justify further action by the ICC. On 16 July 2015, Pre-Trial Chamber I requested the Prosecutor to reconsider her decision, and did so again on 15 November 2018, having found that the Prosecutor had failed to properly reconsider. Pre-Trial Chamber I’s decision of 15 November 2018 was confirmed on appeal. On 2 December 2019, following reconsideration, the Prosecutor once again reaffirmed her position that no potential case arising from the situation would be sufficiently grave to justify further action by the ICC.
In the decision issued today, Pre-Trial Chamber I found that the Prosecutor did not genuinely reconsider her 6 November 2014 decision not to investigate. The Chamber found that the Prosecutor failed to correct the errors identified by the Chamber in the 16 July 2015 decision and committed new errors in her assessment of the gravity of the potential case(s).
Nonetheless, the Chamber decided not to request the Prosecutor to reconsider her decision again. Pre-Trial Chamber I held that, based on the guidance received from the Appeals Chamber, it was unclear whether and to what extent it may request the Prosecutor to correct the errors identified by the Chamber. Pre-Trial Chamber I considered that the current jurisprudence of the Appeals Chamber did not establish with sufficient clarity the exact distribution of prerogatives between the Prosecutor and pre-trial chambers.
MPs Haraly Weyel, Jan Nolte and Chairman Dr. Robby Schlund – Picture by MP Haraly Weyel.
Thursday, 17 September 2020, Berlin, Germany: The Ambassador of the Russian Federation to the Federal Republic of Germany, H.E. Mr. Sergej Jurjewitsch Netschajew was welcomed at the Bundestag (Federal Parliament) by the Chairman of the German-Russian Parliamentary Group, Dr. Robby Schlund and five further deputies from the Alternative for Germany Party, including the expert on defence affairs, Jan Nolte.
The conversation took place in a difficult period of German-Russian relations, however, the members of parliament focused on the importance of economic ties, particularly bringing the Nord Stream 2 project to completion, meant to increase the overall annual capacity up to 110 billion m3 in gas deliveries to various EU countries.
All in all, the participating deputies called upon the German and European governments to act with prudence in the case Alexei Nawalny in order not to damage the important relations vis-à-vis the Russian Federation.
Ambassador Netschajew is in office in Germany since 2018, is a career diplomat who speaks fluent Russian, German, and English. He has represented his country as Ambassador to Austria (2010-2015) and Consul General in Bonn (2001-2003).
Fotografiska Am Tacheles – Image by Yornning Richter
Fotografiska is due to open a fourth museum in 2022. The museum will house 5,500 square meters in the historic Kunsthaus Tacheles building in Berlin. The architects Herzog & de Meuron have been assigned to carry out a modern renovation. The opening is expected in late 2022.
Kunsthaus Tacheles is listed as a cultural heritage site. It has therefore been decided in close consultation with the responsible authorities that the façade and certain rooms in the building will be restored. Damages from the war, as well as artistic choices made over the past 80 years, will be retained and even made visible.
Fotografiska was founded by the brothers Jan and Per Broman in Stockholm in 2010. In 2019, additional museums were opened in New York and Tallinn. Today Fotografiska is owned by several partners and the Berlin-based Yoram Roth is the majority owner:
— As my hometown, Berlin was always a dream location for Fotografiska. Today, Berlin is one of the most important cities in the world of photography, with leading museums, academies, and galleries. My wish is to redefine the classical concept of the museum: I want it to be a cultural center that is also part of the cultural scene as a whole.
Fotografiska does not want to be a repository of art in silent, holy halls, but instead a place of vibrant, creative interaction and promote constructive dialogue with the community outside its doors. Simply entertaining our audience with photography is not enough to my mind: Fotografiska wants to foster and initiate changes. innovation, inclusion, inspiration, and sustainability are core elements of our work in this regard.
In the years after the fall of the Wall, Tacheles was home to a group of artists who thought outside the box. It is time to continue that effort: Fotografiska is a community open to all – just like Berlin, says Yoram Roth.
The vintage aesthetics of a historic Montblanc Egyptian writing instrument combined with modern accents.
Egyptomania is inspired in the period when archaeological excavations reached their peak in the 1920s with the discovery of the tomb of Tutankhamun, they sparked a veritable Egyptomania in Europe. Even Montblanc could not escape the fascination and designed a fountain pen with an octagonal shape and engravings in Egyptian style.
Inspired by this writing instrument, Montblanc presents the new Heritage Egyptomania collection with two different editions. They feature authentic hieroglyphics, gold-plated fittings in a vintage look and a 14 K gold nib with embossed scarab motif. The characters roughly mean “mountain of white stone” and thus represent a paraphrase of “Montblanc”.
Montblanc Heritage Egyptomania Special Edition Ink
Like the rest of the world, the Dutch travel industry was hit particularly hard by the COVID-19 pandemic. With almost no tourists around, businesses in Amsterdam’s popular red-light district have reported a 90% loss in revenue, and the situation is similar across the country. In the hopes of saving these businesses, the Dutch tourism board NBTC is encouraging locals to travel domestically rather than abroad, along with the Netherlands’ 75,000 expats.
This aligns with NBTC’s Perspective 2030 tourism plan, which aims at making “all of the Netherlands attractive”. Locals are more likely to look beyond the country’s tourist hubs, which may help with Perspective 2030’s goal of putting “more cities and regions on the map as attractive destinations.” Would-be Dutch travellers are now looking towards individual and socially distanced activities across the Netherlands to occupy their holiday time and innovative tour guides like Mr Local himself, Willem Versteegh, might just have the answer: audio tours.
Audio tours offer a self-guided and zero interaction method of travel. Tour-goers use their own smartphones and headphones, and the tour does the rest as the narration guides them through the most iconic and overlooked places in the city or town they’re exploring. And with audio tour companies like VoiceMap, travellers would be supporting the local tour operators who created the tours and the small businesses that they visit en route.
While VoiceMap has four neighbourhood specific tours in Amsterdam as well as an introduction to the city, it also has a number of tours in neighbouring towns like historical walks around The Hague and Utrecht. They also have a stroll through the Commonwealth War Graves Commission’s Canadian War Cemetery in Holten and a tour in Hattem. “Hattem is a picture-perfect, pocket-sized slice of the Netherlands, and easy to get to,“ says two-time VoiceMap tour creator Annette Welkamp.
While the future of travel remains uncertain, what is clear is that there is an opportunity for sustainable tourism to grow and flourish with the help of technology. A New York Times article on the future of travel predicts that tourism will restart locally, with locals wanting to explore their own backyards before returning to overseas travel. Large group experiences have already started transforming into smaller, private offerings in order to accommodate cautious travellers, and this might be a lasting change that, in the Netherlands, could be a change for the better.
VoiceMap’s Dutch tours at a glance
Vondelpark & Old West Neighbourhood
Tour summary Explore Amsterdam’s Vondelpark and the diverse Old West Neighbourhood Main attractions the Vondelpark, Vondel Church, Kate Ten Market and De Hallen Amsterdam Type of tour walking
Language English and Dutch Length 60 minutes Where Amsterdam
Castles, canals and good folk in Utrecht
Tour summary Walk alongside canals and castles in one of the oldest cities in the Netherlands Main attractions the Huis Oudaen, Utrecht University and some of the 330 lantern sculptures around the town Type of tour walking
Language English Length 60 minutes Where Utrecht
An Amsterdam introduction: from fishing hamlet to trading centre
Tour summary Explore the origins of Amsterdam, from fishing village to trading powerhouse Main attractions the Amsterdam Central Station, Our Lord in the Attic Museum, and the Old Church Type of tour walking Language English Length 60 minutes Where Amsterdam
Windmills, bakeries and possibly ghosts in Hattem
Tour summary Be charmed by Hattem’s history, good food and quaint Dutch atmosphere Main attractions the Molen De Fortuin, the Anton Pieck Museum and the Nederlands Bakkerij Museum Type of tour walking Language English Length 45 minutes Where Hattem
Red Light District
Tour summary Take a peek behind the curtain of Amsterdam’s Red Light District Main attractions the Dam Square, Oude Church and New Market Type of tour walking Language English
Length 35 minutes Where Amsterdam
The Commonwealth War Graves Canadian War Cemetery
Tour summary Discover the stories of WWII Canadian soldiers on this short cemetery walk Main attractions the Holten Canadian Cemetery Information Center, Stone of Remembrance, and the Cross of Sacrifice Type of tour walking Language English Length 30 minutes Where Holten
Exploring the Historical Centre of The Hague
Tour summary Hit the bricks on this journey through the historical heart of The Hague Main attractions the Binnenhof, Mauritshuis and Escher in The Palace museums Type of tour walking Language English
Length 30 minutes Where The Hague
A Tasty Stroll Around The Cool Spots of the Pijp
Tour summary Meander through Amsterdam’s quaint and cool Pijp area to find local hangouts Main attractions the Albert Cuyp Market and the Monument Samuel Sarphati Type of tour walking Language English
Length 30 minutes Where Amsterdam
Amsterdam West Specialty Coffee Spots
Tour summary Cycle through Amsterdam and get your java fix from some notable coffee spots Main attractions the Ten Kate Market Type of tour cycling Language English
Length 20 minutes Where Amsterdam
About VoiceMap
VoiceMap is a location-aware audio tour app for Android and iOS that gives you the freedom to explore at your own pace. The app uses your location to play audio automatically, at exactly the right time and place. You can start the tours whenever you’re ready and pause whenever you like. When you start moving again, playback will too. It also gives you turn-by-turn directions, making it much easier to put your phone away and immerse yourself in your surroundings, not the screen. We’ve helped passionate locals, journalists, novelists and podcasters create more than 600 tours in over 200 cities across the world.
For more information on VoiceMap please call +44 20 8638 8644 or email hello@voicemap.me
Published by AD Haagsche Courant / AD 18-09-2020 Leo van der Velde / Translated by Afaf Zoughbi, Embassy of Lebanon.
World Record: In one day along all Ambassadors in The Hague.
“I thought: I can do that too,”.
Arman Angishan (25) Member of Diplomat Magazine, set a new Guinness World Record yesterday. On his bike, he visited 36 Embassies in The Hague in one day and had his picture taken with the Ambassador or his Deputy. At the Embassy of Albania, with Ambassador Adia Sakiqi, he broke the old record of 33 Embassies.
Angishan: “I’ve always wanted to set a record”. “Then I noticed this in the Guinness Book and I thought: I can do that too ”. Together with Kejda Revaj, photographer of Diplomat Magazine, the glossy, written by and for Ambassadors and other Diplomats in The Hague. The first Embassy visited by the junior Legal officer was the Embassy of Vatican at Carnegielaan. There he was received by Archbishop Aldo Cavalli, the Apostolic Nuncio (Ambassador).
The same happened, across the street, on Tobias Asserlaan, with the Ambassador of Japan Mr. Hidehisa Horinouchi. On his bike tour Arman was accompanied by Mr. August Zeidman, tour leader, and 4 witnesses, volunteers who note down the times. During a tryout on Sunday, it became apparent that the distances between addresses were close enough to make the record feasible. Though many visits could be registered in the International area and villas on the Johan de Wittlaan behind the Peace Palace, Dr Mayelinne De Lara, publisher of the Magazine and Website with the same name, was very concerned before the event.
“We had to wait a long time for the registrations but suddenly all the confirmations came in. Glad that it worked, knowing that strict Corona safety measures had to be followed”.
Until yesterday, the record of the most visited Embassies in 24 hours was held by Omar Ouaili (Morocco) who could visit 33 Embassies in London, on 26 March 2019.
Women Ambassadors Group at Clingendael. Photography by Jay Pangilinan.
On 15 and 16 September, a training on “International Negotiations: How can they be most effective?” took place at the esteemed Clingeldael Institute in the Hague for several ambassadors from the Women Ambassadors Group in The Netherlands.
The coordination between the three parties: Director of Clingendael Academy, Mr. Ron Ton, the Head of the Women Ambassadors Group in the Netherlands, Yemeni Ambassador H.E. Ms. Sahar Ghanem and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, produced a training designed for a joint group of women Ambassadors and women directors of the Dutch MFA, and funded by the Dutch MFA.
The training targeted those who operate in an international context and may encounter situations that require negotiations in order to solve complex issues. It also provided participants with important insights and skills to be more successful as an international woman negotiator with emphasis on the political context of negotiations and the extra challenges women face.
The training was performed by the Director of the Academy, Ron Ton and the Coach at the Academy, Ms. Mara van der Meer. By the end participants received a certificate of participation.
