On 18 August 2018, Ms. Myroslava Krasnoborova took up her duties as Liaison Prosecutor for Ukraine at Eurojust.Before joining Eurojust, Ms Krasnoborova occupied the positions of Deputy Head of Department for International Legal Cooperation and Head of Division for International Cooperation of the Prosecutor General’s Office (PGO) of Ukraine.In 2008, she joined the PGO as a prosecutor dealing with mutual legal assistance (MLA) cases. In her role as head of the relevant PGO divisions, she specialised in the transfer of criminal proceedings, asset recovery, international cooperation and the negotiation of international treaties, in addition to MLA.As Eurojust contact point for Ukraine for several years, Ms Krasnoborova was directly involved in some of the most complex and high-profile cross-border cases related to Ukraine, including cybercrime, economic crime, terrorism, as well as the recovery of stolen art.After her appointment to Eurojust, Ms Krasnoborova said: “I am delighted and honoured to be the first Liaison Prosecutor for Ukraine at Eurojust. We wish to continue the success of combating transnational criminality with the support of Eurojust and EU Member States’ judicial authorities, and I am looking forward to enhancing this effective cooperation in the future in the framework of Eurojust’s activities.”
By Roy Lie Atjam.Diversity is not about how we differ, diversity is about embracing one another’s uniqueness (Maya Angelou)
The 73rd Independence Day of the Republic of Indonesia has been widely celebrated in the Netherlands.
The Embassy of Indonesia in the Netherlands under the direction of H.E. Ambassador I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja has successfully organized various activities to mark this memorable day. Activities as an impressive Flag hoisting ceremony, Indonesian Flavour Festival, a Diplomatic reception, Pasar Ryan etc.
The Diplomatic reception took place on the lawns of“ Wisma Duta” in Wassenaar, the official residence of the Ambassador of Indonesia in the Netherlands. The date was 6 September 2018, the theme was Diversity and Friendship.
The Ambassador of Sri Lanka, H.E. Adam M.J. Sadiq together with H.E. Ambassador I Gusti Wesaka Puja.
H.E. Ambassador I Gusti Agung Wesaka Puja opened the reception with a brief address. Featuring alongside him Mister and Miss Indonesia 2017, Miquel Sijbers and Nike van der Velde.
The presence of Mister and Miss Indonesia is a token of the vigour of the phenomena diversity Ambassador Puja remarked. In addition to celebrating Independence and Diversity, the diplomatic reception was also an expression of the long standing friendship between Indonesia and the Netherlands.
H.E. Mr Agustin Vazquez Gomez, Ambassador of El Salvador, Mrs. Laura Dupuy and H.E. Ricardo Nava, Ambassador of Uruguay.
The Diplomatic reception, quotation:
More than 850 guests made up of diplomatic corps, officials of various Dutch government institutions, international organizationspartners, the press, and Indonesians. Among the guests were also prominent Dutch political figures, members of Parliament, and the Senate. For example, Ben Bot, the Dutch Minister of Foreign Affairs in the Balkenende Cabinet II and III; AnkieBroekers-Knol, President of the Dutch Senate; Geert Jan Hamilton, Secretary General of the Dutch Senate; Fernando Arias, Director General of the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW); Pauline Krikke, Mayor of The Hague; Lenny Poppe-de Loff, Mayor of Zundert. Simon Boon, President of Gelre Association International.
H.E. Mrs. Adia Sakiqi, Ambassador of Albania, H.E. Fernando Arias, Director – General OPCW and H.E. Ms. Mirsada Čolaković, Ambassador of Bosnia-Herzegovina.
Ambassador Wesaka Puja also expressed the pride of the Indonesian people, who had successfully held the 2018 Asian Games some time ago. Because of this success, Indonesia has a strong foundation to offer itself as the host for the 2032 Olympics.
Ambassador Wesaka Puja took advantage of this opportunity to promote Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands. As a form of commemoration of the 73rd Indonesian Anniversary, the Indonesian Embassy in The Hague published a book 73 favorite Indonesian restaurants in the Netherlands. “If you go home later, please take the book. I hope you can visit one of them” he said.
As a series of the 73rd RI independence activities, this Diplomatic Reception was also sponsored by various companies, including Damen, BNI, Garuda, PT. Lis International, Van Oord, The East, Pipiltin, Polygon, and others.
Mrs. Fernanda Jagusiak, Mrs. Linda Zin and the Ambassador of Malaysia, H.E Mr. Ahmad Nazri Yusof.
After the speech, Ambassador Wesaka Puja invited the guests to enjoy a variety of Indonesian specialties that were provided such as chicken soup, gado-gado, guling goats, as well as various satay – chicken, goat and shrimp. Not to forget, ice teler, various herbs, native Indonesian tea, Bintang beer, as well as Indonesian snacks, such as rolls, spring rolls, and lapis legit.
While enjoying the meal, guests were entertained by music presented by the Krontjong Toegoe group. It has been a great celebration of the 73rd Indonesian Anniversary.
María Fernanda Espinosa and Michelle Bachelet – Picture by UN
1 September 2018, UN: Michelle Bachelet hailing from Chile became the VII United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights. She stepped in the shoes of predecessor, HRH Prince Zeid bin Ra’ad Al Hussein, native of the Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan.
Bachelet ended her second four-year term as President of Chile in March 2018, having already held the position between 2006 and 2010. The first woman elected to Chile’s highest office, after her first term, she joined the United Nations as the first Executive Director of the newly established United Nations Entity for Gender Equality and the Empowerment of Women (UN-Women).A long-time human rights champion and ground-breaking leader, Michelle Bachelet is a pediatrician who began her Government career as an adviser in the Ministry of Health, rising quickly to become the first woman to lead Chile’s Health Ministry in 2000 and its Defence Ministry in 2002.Holder of a medical degree, Ms. Bachelet also studied military strategy at Chile’s National Academy of Strategy and Policy and at the Inter-American Defense College in the United States.
Friday, 31 August 2018, Hong Kong, PRC: Chief Executive of Hong Kong Special Administrative Region, Carrie Lam welcomed Austria’s Federal Chancellor Sebastian Kurz and his delegation to Hong Kong, which included three federal ministers, namely the Federal Minister for Transport, Innovation and Technology, Mr Norbert Hofer; the Federal Minister for Digital and Economic Affairs, Mrs Margarete Schramböck; and the Federal Minister for Education, Science and Research, Mr Heinz Fassmann, who Mrs Lam met during her visit to Europe some months ago.
CE Lam said that she visited Vienna in her previous capacity of Chief Secretary for Administration in 2014, during which she invited a high-level delegation of the Austrian Federal Government to visit Hong Kong.
Austrian and Hong Kong authorities are eager in expanding cooperation in the field of arts and culture. In fact CE Lam mentioned that the world-renowned Vienna Boys Choir set up its first overseas music academy in Hong Kong in 2011.
Moreover, the soon-to-be completed M+ Museum and the Hong Kong Palace Museum in the West Kowloon Cultural District, together with the renovated Hong Kong Museum of Art, will bring the development of arts and culture in Hong Kong to new heights. She also expressed the hope that room for collaboration could be explored with the acclaimed MuseumsQuartier Wien.
For further information :
Hong Kong Economic and Trade Office, European Union, Brussels (Director Shirley Lam): www.hongkong-eu.org
Tuesday, 28 August 2018, Canberra, Commonwealth of Australia: Senator and until then serving Minister of Defence Marise Payne has replaced Liberal party comrade Julie Bishop as Australian Chief of Diplomacy.
Payne serves as Senator since 1997 for the state of New South Wales. Julie Bishop resigned of her own accord after losing the ballot contesting the leadership to the Liberal Party, and thus aiming at the prime ministership.
XV informal meeting of German-speaking heads of state and spouses – Picture by the Belgian Monarchy.
Thursday, 6 September 2018, Sils im Engadin/Segl, Canton of Graubünden, Swiss Confederation: Loyal to their annual tradition the heads of state of Germany, Luxembourg, Austria, Belgium and Liechtenstein (acting head of state) were hosted by the Swiss Federal President Alain Berset to discuss topics of relevance.
The visiting delegations arrived in the municipality of Sils im Engandin located in the Canton of the Grisons (Graubünden) for their informal welcome on Wednesday, 5 September, albeit the official programme began on 6 September with discussions rounds concerning the possible membership of Western Balkan countries into the EU, the Brexit, the upcoming global climate conference to be held in October in Poland as well as the Austrian EU-Council chairmanship.
Although the meeting is meant for the heads of state of partaking countries, one should note that Switzerland has no one single head of state, hence Federal Counsellor Alain Berset welcomed his colleagues in his role as primus inter pares within the seven-members strong Federal Swiss Council. Likewise Liechtenstein’s Hereditary Prince Alois participates in his capacity as deputy to the sovereign prince.
Statement by the President of the Assembly
The International Criminal Court is an independent and impartial judicial institution crucial for ensuring accountability for the gravest crimes under international law. The Court is non-political and acts strictly within the legal framework of the Rome Statute, its founding treaty. The Court’s mandate is to help put an end to impunity for the most serious crimes of concern to the international community as a whole and to bring justice to those affected by such crimes.
One of the cornerstones of the Rome Statute system is that it recognizes the primary jurisdiction of States to investigate and prosecute atrocity crimes. The jurisdiction of the Court is only complementary to domestic jurisdictions.
The Court is encouraged by the strong support and cooperation, not only of the 123 States Parties to the Rome Statute, but also by the support it has received from other States and international organizations and civil society in carrying out its mandate. This commitment was recently reaffirmed on the occasion of the 20th anniversary of the Rome Statute this July.
The Assembly of States Parties remains committed to uphold and defend the principles and values enshrined in the Rome Statute, including in particular the judicial independence of the Court.
The Hague, Netherlands — 10 September 2018 — The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of the Chemical Weapons (OPCW), H.E. Ambassador Fernando Arias, met with the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Denmark, H.E. Mr. Anders Samuelsen, during a visit today to OPCW Headquarters in The Hague.
The Director-General briefed the Foreign Affairs Minister on the progress in the implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC). They discussed the approach to and anticipated outcomes for the upcoming Fourth Review Conference of the CWC, progress in implementing the June decision on addressing the threat of chemical weapons use, and plans for upgrading the OPCW Laboratory.
The Director-General commended Denmark’s efforts in upholding the norm against the use of chemical weapons. He acknowledged Denmark’s invaluable assistance for the verification and destruction-related activities of the Organisation, especially in Syria and Libya.
The Director-General stated: “I am impressed with Denmark’s stalwart support for the OPCW. I hope that the Kingdom of Denmark and the OPCW will continue to collaborate to eradicate chemical weapons in concert with the other Member States.”
The Minster remarked: “The threat from chemical weapons is clear, present and takes many forms. The unacceptable breaches of the ban on the use of chemical weapons, not least in Syria and Salisbury, are tragic reminders. The decision to establish an attribution mechanism in the OPCW sends a clear message. There must be no impunity. Denmark remains committed to the fight to uphold the ban. Director-General Arias and I discussed how best to achieve progress and secure OPCW’s leading role.”
Ambassador of Iraq. H.E. Mr. Hisham Al-Alawi.By Marwan Hani Osseiran, Visiting Professional, ICC.
Earlier this summer, H.E. Hisham Al-Alwi, Ambassador of Iraq to the Kingdom of the Netherlands, in cooperation with the Terrorism Prevention branch of the United Nations Office on Drugs and Crime (UNODC/TPB) held an international conference for Iraqi Judges on “the accountability of ISIL/Dae’sh crimes in Iraq: collection of evidence, prosecution, trials and international cooperation”, at the Embassy in The Hague.
I attended on behalf of Diplomat Magazine on the 11th& 12th of July 2018, to cover this important event which brought together a group of senior Iraqi judges dealing with terrorist cases involving ISIL/Dae’sh in Iraq as well as experts from the international criminal tribunals in The Hague and senior United Nations representatives including Mr. Karim Asad Khan, the newly appointed Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team established pursuant to Security Council resolution 2379 (2017), to support domestic efforts to hold Islamic State in Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Dae’sh) accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the terrorist group.
As a background, the Islamic State of Iraq and the Levant (ISIL/Dae’sh) perpetrated serious and systematic violations in Iraq that amount to “international crimes’ since its capture of the city of Mosul in June 2014, including the nine-month battle for Mosul between the terrorist group and Iraqi Government forces.
Evidence shows that ISIL committed mass atrocities against civilians and Mosul itself, a city they claimed as their capital, but for which they sought its ultimate deliberate destruction. Dae’sh reign of terror has spared no one, inflicting untold suffering on unarmed residents.
However, after the defeat of ISIL, more than 12000 ISIL fighters were captured and detained in Iraqi prisons. As Iraq’s criminal justice response faced challenges regarding the big number of the terrorist group’s detainees as well as the difficulties related to investigating and prosecuting them, UNODC’s Terrorism Prevention Branch brings its support to Iraqi criminal justice officials and law enforcement agencies in this regard such as, and including this pilot training conference.
The conference started with keynote speeches of high officials of the United Nations.
Mr. Jan Kubis, Special Representative of the Secretary-General and Head of the United Nations Assistance Mission for Iraq explained that UNAMI, as a political mission established in 2003 had a mandate to advise and assist the Government & People of Iraq in various issues among them promoting and protection of human rights and judicial and legal reforms. He stressed that the difficulties in Iraq are part of a global struggle about justice. UNAMI operates under constitutional and national laws of Iraq as in this case where specialized courts were created to deal with the Dae’sh crimes.
UNAMI is committed to assist the authorities in their quests to collect evidence needed for the prosecution of the crimes, as well as recover thousands of human remains and assist the victims of these crimes and their families.
International conference for Iraqi Judges on “the accountability of ISIL/Dae’sh crimes in Iraq: collection of evidence, prosecution, trials and international cooperation”, at the Embassy in The Hague.
Mr. Mauro Miedico, Chief, Implementation Support Section III, Terrorism Prevention Branch, UNODC delivered a concise note on the purpose of Pilot Training as well as the content of the latest draft adopted by the Government of Iraq detailing strategy, establishing associations for the support of victims, and specialisations of judges in the field of terrorism crimes.
In collaboration, the Government of Iraq offered UNODC an office in Baghdad where the focus will continue on prevention of terrorism, consolidation of efforts for training & support in the area of Cyber crimes as well.
Tasks:
Strengthen Peace & Security
Re-construction
Mr. Hisham Al Alwi, Ambassador of Iraq welcomed all the dignitaries and speakers. He highlighted the achievement of his government obtaining a final victory in a short period of time against Dae’sh. He reminded us that it wasn’t enough to defeat Dae’sh and that more efforts are needed to address the roots of the phenomena. Iraq is working on strengthening peace and security by promoting a culture of tolerance and dealing with people affected by these crimes.
On the other hand, Iraq faced destruction of a monumental scale which requires years of re-construction. Finally, His Excellency confirmed that his government is very keen on delivering justice for sake of victims and families in an exemplary manner.
No Crime without a law
Mr. Faeq Zeidan, Chief Justice, President of the Higher Judicial Council, Iraq, by parol, stated the pillars and legal principles for the Specialised Courts be it, right for a fair defence, right for Defence counsel, right for a fair trial, and that there will be no crime without a law.
Collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq and Syria of acts that may amount to international crimes;
Mr. Karim Khan, Special Adviser and Head of the Investigative Team for Iraq spoke about resolution 2379. He reiterated the condemnation of all violations of international humanitarian law, violations and abuses of international human rights law, and acts of terrorism. In his mandate as Special Adviser, the Investigate Team will support domestic efforts to hold ISIL accountable by collecting, preserving, and storing evidence in Iraq of acts that may amount to war crimes, crimes against humanity and genocide committed by the terrorist group in Iraq, to the highest possible standards and to ensure the broadest possible use before national courts, and complementing investigations being carried out by the Iraqi authorities and third parties.
Mrs. Catherine Marchi-Uhel, Head of the United Nations International Impartial and Independent Mechanism (IIIM for Syria) shared her experience on the task of collecting, preserving evidence and materials through establishing a memorandum of understanding and setting up an effective methodology.
The two-day conference continued with an array of experts from Judges, Registrar and Deputy Registrar, former prosecutors, senior legal officers, investigators, UN Detention Unit Commander, Chief of Victim Witness services and psychologists at the International Criminal Court, the International Criminal Tribunal for former Yugoslavia, the Special Tribunal for Lebanon, the International Tribunal for Rwanda, and the Kosovo Specialist Chambers & Specialist Prosecutor’s Office.
Moderators Mr. Ali Younes and Mr. Zouhair Racheha from the UNODC/TPB wrapped-up the conference with open questions and answers and invited H.E. Ambassador Al-Alwi to the podium who thanked the presenters and experts and encouraged the Iraqi judges of specialized courts for a big mission ahead of them overseeing the trials of more than 13,000 accused and more than one hundred thousand registered victims.
The Minister of Foreign Affairs of Denmark, Anders Samuelsen,met today at Eurojust’s headquarters in The Hague with Eurojust’s Vice President and National Member for Germany, Klaus Meyer-Cabri. The discussion centred on the future relationship between Denmark and Eurojust in view of the adoption and implementation of the new Eurojust Regulation.
The Minister praised Eurojust’s contribution to the fight against serious cross-border organised crime, especially in the areas of counter-terrorism, cybercrime and migrant smuggling. The Minister further stressed Eurojust’s importance for Denmark in combating transnational criminality. Special emphasis was given to Denmark’s future involvement in Eurojust when the new Eurojust Regulation will enter into force at the end of 2019. According to the Danish Protocol to the Lisbon Treaty, Denmark will not participate in any new measure in the criminal justice field and, as a consequence, it will not participate in the new Eurojust Regulation. However, Denmark wishes to continue to work in close cooperation with Eurojust. Mr. Meyer-Cabri said: Denmark is making valuable contributions to the work of Eurojust, closely cooperating with the judicial and law enforcement authorities in other Member States, therefore enhancing security at EU level. This work needs to be maintained, while respecting the rules of the Protocol and Denmark’s position as an EU Member State. We need to quickly negotiate a new and effective partnership to allow Denmark to remain a member of the Eurojust family, thus avoiding security gaps.
