The Director-General Visits RomeTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — 23 May 2017 — The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü visited Rome from 22-23 May to attend and deliver a keynote address at a side event especially organised to mark the 20th anniversary of the OPCW at the First Scientific International Conference on CBRNe (SICC 2017). The gathering focused on safety and security issues in the chemical, biological, nuclear and explosive field and was held at the University of Rome Tor Vergata.Ambassador Üzümcü highlighted the verified destruction of 95 percent of the world’s stockpile of declared chemical weapons and stated, “Destruction of the remaining stockpiles continues, and will be completed in the coming five years”. He shared with the audience the new approaches followed and new capabilities acquired by the OPCW as the focus shifts away from destroying existing chemical weapons to preventing their re-emergence. The Director-General called for a concrete and coordinated response by States Parties, scientists, academia, industry and international organisations especially because: “Our achievements are valuable, but we must not rest on our laurels. Despite our progress and the noble aims of the Convention, the people of the world are not yet free from the scourge of chemical weapons.”Ambassador Üzümcü acknowledged the vital support of Italy to the OPCW’s work and thanked the Italian government and its agencies, including the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, for being at the forefront of the mission towards a chemical-weapons-free world. In praising Italy as a committed partner, he called attention to Italy’s important financial and operational contributions in support of the OPCW’s activities in Syria and Libya.Following his keynote address, the Director-General participated in a round table discussion with experts from diplomacy, academia and industry, on the achievements and challenges facing the OPCW.During his visit, the Director-General also met with H.E. Mr Benedetto Della Vedova, Undersecretary of State at the Italian Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. The Director-General briefed Mr Della Vedova on the latest developments relating to Syria and Libya. He also met with Mr Gianfranco Incarnato, Deputy General Director for Political Affairs and Principal Director for Security, Disarmament and Non-Proliferation, and Mr Enrico Valvo, Head of the National Authority for the Implementation of the Chemical Weapons Convention (CWC).
On the picture Mrs. Tsolmon Jadamba, Ambassador’s spouse and H.E. Ambassador Mr. Och Od.By Roy Lie A Tjam.
The new Ambassador of Mongolia to the Netherlands. H.E. Mr.Od Och, presented his credentials on Wednesday 17 May 2017 to HM King Willem Alexander of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.
Ambassador Och describes the ceremony as impressive. Ambassador Och is, therefore, Mongolia’s Ambassador to the Netherlands, Belgium-Luxembourg, and the European Union.
Mr. Nyam-Ochir Dashbadrakh, Embassy staff /driver/, Mrs. Tsolmon Jadamba, Ambassador’s spouse, H.E. Ambassador Mr. Och Od, Ms. Maralgua Od, Ambassador’s daughter and Ms. Munkhjargal Nergui, Embassy staff /second secretary/.
However, the Mongolian Embassy is located in Brussels Belgium. Ambassador Och envisages paying regular visits to The Hague in order to acquit himself of his bilateral- and multilateral obligations. The Netherlands and Mongolia are this year celebrating 45 years of Diplomatic relations.
Before coming to The Hague his latest assignment was that of Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the United Nations, 2012 – 2016. Mr.Od Och also served as an Advisor to Mongolia’s Prime Minister. He has held various positions both within the Ministry of Foreign Affairs as well as at foreign missions.
Mr. Nyam-Ochir Dashbadrakh, Embassy staff /driver/, Mrs. Tsolmon Jadamba, Ambassador’s spouse, H.E. Ambassador Mr. Och Od, Ms. Maralgua Od, Ambassador’s daughter and Ms. Munkhjargal Nergui, Embassy staff /second secretary/.
Mr. Och holds a Master’s degree in law, with a major in international criminal justice, from Kyushu University, Japan. He also holds a Bachelor’s degree from Moscow State Institute of International Relations.
Mr.Och is married with two children.
H.E. Mr Od Och, as Permanent Representative of Mongolia to the OPCW, presented his credentials to the Director-General, H.E. Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü on 17 May 2017.
H.E. Ambassador Mr. Och Od and H.E. Ambassador Mr. Ahmet Üzümcü, Director-General of the OPCW.
Statement of the Prosecutor of the International Criminal Court, Mrs Fatou Bensouda, regarding increased violence in CAR: “crimes must stop!”
Violence and clashes between armed groups in several parts of the Central African Republic (“CAR”) have increased in the last months. I am deeply concerned about this development and the recent attacks reported in Bangassou, Bria and Alindao. The current situation appears extremely precarious with reports of violence and allegations of serious crimes committed against civilians, peacekeepers and humanitarian workers. These reported crimes may fall under the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court (“ICC”), and must immediately stop.
I urge all individuals and groups in the CAR engaged in violence, including those who appear to be linked to the anti-Balaka and ex-Seleka groups, to desist.
My Office is monitoring these developments very closely to assess what further action may be required.
We stand ready to assist the competent Central African authorities who have the primary duty to investigate and prosecute those allegedly responsible for these crimes.
My Office has been investigating crimes committed in the CAR since 1st of August 2012, following a second referral by the national authorities. Our work in the country continues. I will not hesitate to take further action if these recent crimes fall within the jurisdiction of the ICC and will take all necessary measures to bring perpetrators to account, with full respect for the principle of complementarity.
On 7 June 2017, the I Polyphonic Day of International Justice, which will deal with issues concerning international law (private, public and criminal) with speakers from different geographic areas (Africa, Arab countries, China, Ibero-America, Iran and Russia), will take place at the Hague University for Applied Sciences (HHS).
The I Polyphonic Day aims at bringing together and debating the views and perspectives of academics and professionals coming from the said geographic regions. As you can see in the attached Programme, the I Polyphonic Day on International Justice is organised by the Ibero-American Institute of The Hague (IIH) as part of the VII Ibero-American Week of International Justice, in partnership with a number of partners including the The HSS, The Hague Project for Peace and Justice of the Foreign Ministry of The Netherlands, the African Foundation for International Law, the Chinese Initiative on International Law (CIIL), the Center for International and Comparative Criminal Law ofLomonosov Moscow State University, the Iranian Center for International Criminal Law, The United Nations University for Peace, the University of El Rosario (Colombia), the Hague Academic Coalition, the Coalition for the International Criminal Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Tirant lo Blanch Publishers, the International Law Student Association (ILSA) at the HHS and the Corax Student Association at the HHS.
The event will be hosted at the Aula of the Hague University of Applied Sciences, located at Johanna Westerdijkplein 75 (just behind Holland Spoors Train Station), 2521 EN The Hague, on Wednesday 7th June 2017 from 10h30 to 19h30, and will be followed by The Hague Talks in The Humanity House located at Prinsengracht 8, The Hague from 20h00-21h30 .
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We would like to invite all the readers from the Diplomats´ Magazine to come to HHS and participate in the I Polyphonic Day. In case you could accept this invitation, please send an email confirming your presence to the following email address: inscripcionesiih@gmail.com. For further information, you can also write to this email address.
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Picture taken by Ibero-American Institute of The Hague during VI Iberoamerican Week of International Justice – 2016
On the picture, Professor Hector Olasolo during his speech, Peace Palace, The Hague.
On Wednesday 31st May, the Opening Ceremony for the VI Ibero-American Week of International Justice will take place at the Peace Palace.
H.E. Judge Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, President of the International Criminal Court, H.E. Ambassador Sergio Ugalde, Vicepresident of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court, H.E. Ambassador Johan Van der Werff, Ambassador of the Netherlands to International Organisations, and Prof. Héctor Olasolo, Chairman of the Ibero-American Institute of The Hague for Peace, Human Rights and International Justice (IIH) will be the speakers of such an occassion.
Judge Silvia Fernandez de Gurmendi, President of the International Criminal Court.
Since 2011, the Ibero-American Week of International Justice is organised each year during the first ten days of June by the IIH. It has the the institutional support of the International Court of Justice, the International Criminal Court, the Hague Municipality, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the University of The Hague for Applied Sciences, the Grotious Center for International Studies, the TMC Asser Institute, the Hague Academic Coalition, the Embassies of several Ibero-American States, the General Ibero-American Secretariat, the Coalition for the ICC and a number of Ibero-American Universities and organisations.
According to Prof. Hector Olasolo, IIH Chairman, “the aim of the Ibero-American Week is to create a space in which academics, international and national state officials, members of civil society, students, and the general public at large, coming from the countries in the Ibero-American region and the Netherlands, may exchange their views and initiatives on International Justice. Likewise, it aims to promote a deeper knowledge and a better understanding of Hague-based International Court, Tribunals and Organisations”.
The Ibero-American Week is comprised of a number of events in Spanish, with some lectures in Portuguese, including a Moot Court on the International Criminal Court, an Essay Contest on International Justice, a Seminar on Ibero-American Thinking on International Justice, a Research Group on the Ibero-American Epistemological Perspective on Justice, a guided tour to the historical buildings of the City of The Hague, and several visits to Hague-based International Courts, Tribunals and Organisations. Translation into English is provided for some of the activities.
H.E. Hector Horacio Salvador, Ambassador of Argentina and H.E. Philippe Couvreur, Registrar of the International Court of Justice.
On the occassion of its VII Edition, the I Polyphonic Day of International Justice, which will deal with issues concerning international law (private, public and criminal) with speakers from different geographic areas (Africa, Arab countries, China, Ibero-America, Iran and Russia), will take place at the Hague University for Applied Sciences (HHS).
The I Polyphonic Day aims at bringing together and debating the views and perspectives of academics and professionals coming from the said geographic regions. As you can see in the attached Programme, the I Polyphonic Day on International Justice is organised by the Ibero-American Institute of The Hague (IIH) as part of the VII Ibero-American Week of International Justice, in partnership with a number of partners including the The HSS, The Hague Project for Peace and Justice of the Foreign Ministry of The Netherlands, the African Foundation for International Law, the Chinese Initiative on International Law (CIIL), the Center for International and Comparative Criminal Law of Lomonosov Moscow State University, the Iranian Center for International Criminal Law, The United Nations University for Peace, the University of El Rosario (Colombia), the Hague Academic Coalition, the Coalition for the International Criminal Law, Martinus Nijhoff Publishers, Tirant lo Blanch Publishers, the International Law Student Association (ILSA) at the HHS and the Corax Student Association at the HHS.
H.E. Judge Mr. Ronny Abraham, President of the International Court of Justice.
The I Polyphonic Day will be hosted at the Aula of the Hague University of Applied Sciences, located at Johanna Westerdijkplein 75 (just behind Holland Spoors Train Station), 2521 EN The Hague, on Wednesday 7th June 2017 from 10h30 to 19h30. All readers of Diplomats Magazine are invited to attend the I Polyphonic Day. For registration you only need to write an email to: inscripcionesiih@gmail.com by 2nd June 2017.
The I Polyphonic Day will be followed from 20h00 to 21h30 by a Hague Talks Session on Diversity and International Law organised by the Hague Programme on Peace and Justice of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. This Session will take place in The Humanity House located at Prinsengracht 8 from.
Ambassadors of Chile, Brazil and Bolivia.
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For more information in general the contact email is: inscripcionesiih@gmail.com .
News and update about the IIH and all events of the VII Ibero-American Week of International justice may be found on:
IIH Web Site: http://www.iberoamericaninstituteofthehague.org/
IIH Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100012360003751
IIH Twitter: https://twitter.com/InstitutoIIH
IIH Youtube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQniR5puGjKYrTPN2wRygyQ
See also the web site of the Hague University for Applied Sciences at: www.the hagueuniversity.com
The Kazan Federal University won on May 19, the final round of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Moot Court Competition, Russian version, held in Courtroom I of the ICC premises in The Hague (the Netherlands). The National Research University Higher School of Economics won second place and the Lomonosov Moscow State University came in third.
The “Best Speaker” award went to Anastasiia Zakharova of the National Research University Higher School of Economics. Members of the winning team are: Ruslan Sharipov, Aygul Fatykhova, Daria Domolazova and Aman Amanov.
On the judge’s bench for this competition were ICC Judge Geoffrey Henderson, presiding, Hirad Abtahi, Head of Unit and Legal Adviser at the ICC Presidency, and William St-Michel, Associate Legal Adviser at the ICC Presidency.
This version of the ICC Moot Court Competition is organised by the Law Faculty of National Research University Higher School of Economics with institutional support from the ICC. 13 teams and more than 70 students representing two countries (Russia (12) and Belarus (1)) took part in the preliminary rounds of the competition under the supervision of university professors, scholars, legal practitioners, and former competitors, including former ICC Judge Anita Ušaсka and former ICTY and ICTR Judge Tuzmukhamedov.
The organisational and financial support for the competition was provided by Kuznetsova’s Center for International Criminal Law and Comparative Criminal Law Studies (Faculty of Law, Lomonosov Moscow State University), the Russian National Group of International Association of Penal Law, the Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Russian Federation, the International Committee of the Red Cross (Regional Delegation in Moscow), the legal firms ‘FBK Legal’ and ‘Zabeyda, Kasatkin, Saushkin and partners’.
The Embassy of the Kingdom of the Netherlands in the Russian Federation and the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs in The Netherlands also supported the competition and the winning teams in their trip to The Hague.
In the context of its Academic Programme, the ICC supports the organisation of ICC Moot Court Competitions in Chinese, English, Russian and Spanish, with a view to also support Arabic and French versions in the future. These initiatives play a critical role in galvanising interest in the Court’s work with academic communities as well as in enhancing promotion and respect for international criminal law.
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Photos of the competition and awards ceremony by the ICC, please open here.
On the picture Ambassador Simona Frankel greeting Ms Latifa Bounajra (Proximus) together with Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar and spouse.Wednesday, 3 May 2017, Cercle de Lorraine, Brussels: In honour of Israel’s 69th Yom Ha’atzmaut (Independence Day), the Israeli heads of missions with residence in Brussels co-hosted a very-well attended reception for fellow ambassadors, Belgian politicians, representatives of the Jewish community in Belgium as well as EU representatives. Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar introduces his family to Commissioner Věra Jourová – Picture by Israel in Europe.In fact more than 500 guests attended the function including the Belgian Federal Minister for Budget, Sophie Wilmès, EU Commissioner for Justice, Consumers and Gender Equality, Věra Jourová, EU Commissioner for Digital Economy and Society, Andrus Ansip as well as members of the Federal and Regional parliaments of Belgium. Israeli Independence is fêted annually on 5 Iyar according to the Hebrew calendar, the corresponding Gregorian date this year was 2 May 2017. It entails the State of Israel’s establishment, or more precisely the date when its independence was proclaimed by Israel’s first Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion after publicly reading the Israeli Declaration of Independence on 5 Iyar 5708/14 May 1948. HE Ms Simona Frankel, during her speech.Both ambassadors based in Brussels, namely HE Ms Simona Frankel and HE Mr Aharaon Leshno-Yaar, highlighted respectively the recent development of bilateral and multilateral relations between Israel and Belgium and Israel and the European Union during their allocutions to the guests. For Israel relations with EU member states are of particular relevance as the block is the country’s largest trading partner globally. For further information:Embassy of the State of Israel to Belgium and Luxembourg (HE Ambassador Simona Frankel): http://embassies.gov.il/language/Pages/default.aspxMission of Israel to the EU and NATO (HE Ambassador Aharon Leshno-Yaar): http://embassies.gov.il/eu/NewsAndEvents/Newsletter/Pages/Israel’s-new-Ambassador-to-the-EU—NATO—Meet-Aharon-Leshno-Yaar.aspxAlbum: https://www.facebook.com/pg/IsraelinBelgium/photos/?tab=album&album_id=1617616821612364—————Pictures by the Embassy of Israel to Belgium and Luxembourg.
On the picture The Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, Mr Liu Lihua, meeting the Director-General of the OPCW, Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü.Deputy Minister Liu, Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China visits the OPCWTHE HAGUE, Netherlands — 18 May 2017 — The Director-General of the Organisation for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), Ambassador Ahmet Üzümcü, and the Deputy Minister of the Ministry of Industry and Information Technology of China, Mr Liu Lihua, agreed to further avenues of cooperation between the OPCW and China in The Hague today.The Director-General provided an update on ongoing OPCW activities, including in relation to Syria and further briefed Deputy Minister Liu on OPCW-China cooperation. Ambassador Üzümcü appreciated China’s firm commitment to the implementation of the CWC and its contribution to OPCW programmes and projects.Director-General Üzümcü highlighted the prominent role played by China’s chemical industry and its increasing relevance vis-à-vis the implementation of the Convention.Deputy Minister Liu reaffirmed China’s commitment to advancing the goals of the Chemical Weapons Convention as well as continuing cooperation with the OPCW on a number of issues, including on the verification regime and future priorities of OPCW.
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Picture by OPCW.
On the picture Joel Musa Nhleko and President Barroso.Former Swazi Head of Mission to the EU, the Benelux countries, Germany, the OPCW, the ACP Group of states, the Holy See and the Turkish Republic, Mr Joel Musa Nhleko has begun a position as “Principal Secretary” (PS) at the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation. This is the highest role at the ministry reporting directly to incumbent Foreign Minister Mgwagwa Gamedze. Ambassador Musa Nhleko was recalled in October 2016 from Brussels by His Majesty King Mwati III of Swaziland to fill up the PS position. Swazi Ambassador in Brussels is now HE Mr Sibusisiwe Mngomezulu. For further information: Swazi Ministry of Foreign Affairs and International Cooperation: http://www.gov.sz
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Picture by EU
