On the occasion of the 50th commemoration anniversary of “One Hundred Years of Solitude” publication, a masterpiece that led Colombian writer Gabriel García Márquez (1927-2014) to the pinnacle of his carrier with the 1982 Nobel Prize for Literature, the Embassy of Colombia to the Kingdom of the Netherlands together with the Cervantes Institute organized on 18 May 2017 a dialogue about this novel and its author, as well as the opening of the photographic exhibition “García Márquez Portraits” in Utrecht.
The event started with a welcoming speech by the Cervantes Institute Director, Isabel Lorda Vidal, followed by a literary intervention by the Ambassador of Colombia to the Netherlands, H.E. Juan José Quintana. A fragment of “Gabo: The Magic of Reality” documentary directed by the British Justin Webster was displayed, in which García Márquez, Juan Gabriel Vásquez and other personalities narrate their stories around “One Hundred Years of Solitude”.
During the dialogue about the 50 years publication of this masterpiece, Colombian writer Dasso Saldívar and one of the most outstanding biographers of García Márquez participated as well as Mariolein Sabarte, literary translator since 1969 and who has spread great authors of the Spanish and Latin American literature in Dutch language; Maarten Steenmeijer also participated as moderator, he is a literary critic and Professor of modern Spanish and Latin American literature at Radboud University in Nijmegen.
The “García Márquez Portraits” exhibition opened during the reception hosted by the Embassy. While tasting typical Colombian snacks, the public had the chance to visit the nine portraits captured by Colombian photographer Nereo López (1920-2015) and currently in custody of the Colombian National Library. In this exhibition, “Gabo” can be discovered from his everyday life in his office to his spontaneity during the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony in Stockholm.
This cultural event aroused great interest and the auditorium was widely attended by completing its maximum capacity. Among the guests, Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps of The Hague, representatives of international organizations and personalities from the Dutch society were present.
By Mara Lemanis.
Culture is the crucible that forges our visceral identity. When the UK ratified The Hague Convention on the Protection of Cultural Properties last year, it confirmed the importance of sustaining the legacy, the identity of all cultures, especially at a time of armed conflict.
Without this protection the patrimony of indigenous groups in many countries could witness the kind of disintegration that has taken place among native Indian populations all across America.
The relegation of Indian tribes to reservations ordered by the U.S. government in the late 19th century led to erosion of what was essential to their livelihood and way of life, resulting in crushing poverty among the native population. They were deprived of their shelters—the circles and hoops that served as spiritual power, artifacts they had created in trust as records of their civilization were withdrawn—their lives forced into square-shaped chambers. Such privations ushered in high crime rates among the Indian peoples along with increases in suicide, alcoholism, gang assaults, and sexual abuse.
In the aftermath of government seizure, the remains of Indian lands bear a striking resemblance to third-world countries.
In biographer John W. Neihardt’s classic narrative, Black Elk Speaks, the visionary shaman (wičháša wakȟáŋ) Black Elk movingly recounts the history of the Oglala Sioux tribe as the U.S. Government increasingly annexed native Indian territory. Black Elk, describes the wrenching waste after the government conquest:
“I did not know then how much was ended. When I look back now from this high hill of my old age, I can still see the butchered women and children lying heaped and scattered all along the crooked gulch as plain as when I saw them with eyes still young. And I can see that something else died there in the bloody mud, and was buried in the blizzard. A people’s dream died there. It was a beautiful dream…the nations hoops is broken and scattered. There is no center any longer, and the sacred tree is dead.”
Black Elk’s ethnographic memoir, refutes the official version of American history widespread at the time of Neihardt’s 1932 publication, which valorized western expansion and esteemed the profit-making motive as the ideal of “manifest destiny.”
The year 2016 marked the first time the destruction of cultural heritage was dealt with as a war crime. The International Criminal Court in The Hague tried and sentenced the Islamic militant, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi to nine years in prison for the cultural destruction of the historic city of Timbuktu, Mali, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Renowned through the 15th and 16th centuries as the “City of 333 Saints”, Timbuktu was a prominent center of Islamic learning that included libraries with manuscripts on mathematics and astronomy. As a head of the Ansar Eddine, a movement linked to al-Queda, al-Mahdi directed Islamist fighters to use pickaxes and chisels in razing a mosque and sacred mausoleums along with many shrines and tombs of Sufi saints, and commanded the burning of approximately 4,000 ancient manuscripts.
Since the demolition of the giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, multiple artworks, museums, libraries, and places of worship have been ravaged in the Middle East and Africa. More recently the ICC has been asked to investigate the razing of the ancient site of Palmyra in Syria.
Apart from the importance of preserving a people’s heritage–its artifacts, scripts, tombs, monuments—is the existential gravity that embeds the identity of each individual within its culture. It is the embodiment of a personal sense of being. When cultural symbols are debased or pillaged, a people’s sense of unity and kinship are degraded. When that devastation accelerates, it also deepens, breaking down each individual’s sense of self.
Even when an individual considers him/her self to be a citizen of the world beyond any particular region or nation, a steep sense of loss invades the psyche. This often can feel like an amputation, a blow that severs the spirit, because one’s personal bond with one’s past has been ransacked. Stolen. A sense of personal degradation sets in. A vital part of one becomes extinguished.
When the hallmarks of our culture are destroyed, our memory will yet retain an image of their substance, but like the image we sustain of a beloved person who has died, whose fleshly presence has departed from our midst, we sharply mourn the loss. And when we strive to kindle in the minds of our children the form, shape, and beauty of those artifacts symbolic of the culture that once linked us, encircling and protecting our endowment like a giant womb, we flounder, scanning photographs of what was lost, attempting digital replicas too inadequate to restore the original work. In vain we strive to shore some fragments against our ruins.
We are then like people who survived a tsunami, left beached among the shreds of disembodied shapes. We draw in the sand, constructing pictures for our children, for ourselves, before the surf again rises and washes out our flimsy effigies.
Beyond one’s own particular life span and the thoughts of what one leaves one’s children, what kind of legacy we offer to posterity, our thoughts speed outward—like particles birthed in a Hadron Collider–to dimensions distant from one’s daily life.
Regardless of religion, we live with intimations of unseen things–intimations of a continuity that ascends beyond our finite life to inklings of eternity.
Inklings of what may lie beyond the material world, unfolding in continuous consciousness, can be likened to the sense of an implicate order, not readily seen by the naked or the clinical eye, but that one grasps as immanent.
But here is the paradox about this implicate order: though it can generate strong imaginings about the infinite, about our spiritual nature, it relies on the material legacy of manuscripts, books, tombs, sculptures, monuments as berths in which to incubate our spirit.
Organizations like Unesco and the International Committee of the Blue Shield are forces, working to protect cultural landmarks and aid in their reconstruction.
Both the ICC and The Hague Convention are striving to spare us from the kind of wasteland T. S. Eliot describes, as the narrator laments, “These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” They are determined to keep a peoples’ habitat from turning into a reservation.
Because materials of historical legacy are invariably necessary to mark the communal spirit from where we have come, where now we are, and to limn the connotations pointing to horizons where we yet will be.
Never SeenThere lies past sorrow a great sighof beauty, of distantgods, majesticcountries one has never been or seen, but guardsthe marrow where the mind lies chaste,preserves unending kingdoms of the dream,where neither time, nor love, nor duty pay ransomto the hangman’s scheme.Mara Lemanis.About the author:Mara Lemanis has worked as an archivist for Historical Preservation. She and the state archaeologist conducted research at numerous Sioux Nation sites in South Dakota, in the course of which she visited a Lakota Sweat Lodge and took part in the communal spirit of the purification ceremony. She was privileged to study the Oglala Sioux sites at Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee.She has been a teacher and scholar of literature and film at Stanford and Yale; her essays have been selected for 20th CENTURY LITERARY CRITICISM and are included in undergraduate student textbooks in the U.S.Recently she has worked with the IRC to assist refugees in Oakland, California.Her father, Osvalds J. Lemanis, was an internationally renowned Latvian choreographer (The Royal Order of Vasa-Gustav V).
On the picture, Scott Martin.By Scott Martin and Wayne Jordash.
On 17 July 2014, Malaysian Airlines Flight MH17 was en route from Amsterdam to Kuala Lumpur with a total of 298 people on board from 17 countries when it was shot down over eastern Ukraine, crashing at a site in the Donetsk oblast, killing everyone onboard.
This tragedy, well-known to the diplomatic community and people around the world, exacerbated an already tense diplomatic tete-a-tete between the Russian Federation and the Western world, with the West contending that separatists illegally conspired with Russia to occupy Ukraine through reliance on its logistical support and moral encouragement. Predictably, instead of acknowledging its role in the MH17 tragedy, the Russian government continued its systematic denials concerning its culpability for the violent takeover of Ukraine, including its involvement in shooting down the civilian airplane.
On 4 July 2017, the international community moved one step closer to ascertaining the truth, as Dutch Foreign Minister Bert Koenders announced that those criminally responsible for the attack would be prosecuted in Dutch courts. While it is a critically important step in holding to account those responsible for this tragedy, the trial process promises to be controversial and complex.
Wayne Jordash.
Firstly, it is likely that Dutch judges will be facing empty courtrooms and instead trying suspected perpetrators in absentia, as implicated separatists are unlikely to surrender and Russia is not likely to facilitate the extradition of anyone to stand trial. Secondly, access to the crime scene in eastern Ukraine will be difficult to negotiate. Not only would this significantly complicate an appropriate examination of the scene, it would obstruct access to eyewitnesses who were proximate to the crime when it occurred.
These challenges will push the East and West further down the road of confrontation, compounding an already difficult situation. Indeed, in just the past year, concerns have been raised by Western Governments concerning the Russian Government’s alleged meddling in U.S. elections, the alleged killing of political adversaries of the Russian leadership on British sovereign territory, the killing of political adversaries of Russia leadership in Russia itself, and the occupation of Ukraine. In recent years, Russia has also announced its decision to withdraw from the nuclear security pact with the United States, that it is withdrawing its signature from the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, and that it can overrule judgements against it at the European Court of Human Rights.
Regrettably, Russia is not alone in its pivot away from a rules-based international system. Withdrawal of the U.S. from the Paris Agreement, the U.S. invasion of Iraq, threats from a collection of African countries to withdraw from the International Criminal Court and the inability of the World Trade Organization to conclude the Doha round of negotiations all endanger what is necessary for international security and economic stability. Failing to promote a solid, predictable international legal foundation brings about economic hardships, international instability and, at times, armed conflict.
The Netherlands, home to The Hague (known as the “international city of peace and justice”) and known for its long tradition of even-handed justice, is duty-bound to pursue those individually criminally responsible for the shooting down of MH17. The investigation and subsequent prosecutions must continue in an objective, neutral manner. Other states should fulfil their international obligations to cooperate with this enquiry and provide access to alleged perpetrators and evidence that may prove useful in the trials.
It remains to be seen whether Russia will ultimately accept the arrest warrants likely to be issued by the Dutch courts and facilitate the extradition process. Regardless, negotiations must take place and an agreement must be sought to remedy the events of such a tragic day. Justice for the victims of these events, as well as the international legal order, demand it. The world needs to hit the ‘reset’ button, turn its back on “might makes right” politics and geopolitics as usual. The diplomatic community has laboured for centuries to promote the opposite – their collective efforts to bring order, justice, and fairness to the international legal system should not be have been done in vain.
A system that makes the world safer, more predictable, just, and in protection of the human rights of all people must be returned to, lest the world fall prey to the same predilection of our forbearers where domestic political demands from powerful countries win the day and dictate international events. The MH17 investigation provides Russia and the West a unique confidence-building opportunity, giving it the chance to promote the sustainability of a system many have worked very hard for and provides a solid foundation for the East and West to build upon.
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About the authors: Scott Martin and Wayne Jordash, are managing partners of Global Rights Compliance, a Hague-based company that advises governments (including the Government of Ukraine) on matters relating to international humanitarian law and international human rights law.
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Photography by Arthur Koppejan.
By H.E. Sheikha Lubna Bint Khalid Al Qasimi, Minister of State for Tolerance, United Arab Emirates.
In today’s world, one of the greatest challenges that we face is the rise in various forms of intolerance. Whether it is differences in religious belief, in cultural and historical traditions or in colour or origin, conflicts are created and stimulated by those who seek to use them as reasons to divide us.
In sharp contrast to that, we in the United Arab Emirates firmly believe that such differences should be welcomed and celebrated. They offer much from which we can all learn as we seek to build a modern, diverse and forward-looking society.
Last year, I was appointed as the UAE’s first Minister of State for Tolerance, with a mandate to reinforce and to build upon the spirit of tolerance that has always been a fundamental part of our society, deeply rooted in our history.
The citizens of the UAE are overwhelmingly Muslim by faith, embracing a religion that preaches tolerance and respect for other faiths, creating a land where all people may live in coexistence, peace and security. Though we are a Muslim-majority country, we have over 40 churches, catering to hundreds of thousands of believers of many different Christian denominations, along with Sikh and Hindu places of worship. We take pride in that diversity, which encompasses the 200 or so nationalities that live in our country, and also in the evidence of our own ancient Christian heritage 1,400 years ago.
One of our most important historic sites is a monastery of the Church of the East, founded in around 600 AD, before the revelation of Islam, and a centre of the faith for over 100 years before it was eventually abandoned. That monastery is evidence that the UAE has always accepted other beliefs. Our country has always been what I term “an incubator of civilisations.”
Support for the principles of tolerance and diversity – religious, cultural and ethnic – are enshrined in our Constitution. Discrimination on the grounds of faith, race and ethnic origin, as well as speech intended to promote such discrimination, is proscribed under the terms of our legislation.
My role as Minister of State for Tolerance, though, is not simply confined to ensuring that the Constitution and legislation are respected, important though they are. Of equal, if not greater, significance is the role of promoting the underlying values that they represent, through discussion, dialogue, education and debate. In pursuit of that goal, my Ministry reaches out to the varied religious, community and cultural groups, to our schools and voluntary organisations and to UAE society at large.
It is not always an easy task. In the region in which we live, there are siren voices which seek to promote division and hatred. While we are fortunate that there are very few in the Emirates who listen to them, we have seen only too vividly the death and devastation that such voices can bring about.
We must always be on our guard to ensure that such poisonous views never gain a hold in our society.
Over 20 years ago, Sheikh Zayed bin Sultan Al Nahyan, the founder-President of the UAE, noted:
“In these times, we see around us violent men who claim to talk on behalf of Islam…. Regrettably, these people have nothing whatsoever that connects them to Islam. They are apostates and criminals. We see them slaughtering children and the innocent. They kill people, spill their blood and destroy their property, and then claim to be Muslims.”
Sheikh Zayed’s words underpin our approach today. In a world where intolerance derived from a perversion of religion threatens all, the United Arab Emirates will continue to promote our belief in tolerance, welcoming diversity of beliefs, of faiths and of cultures, as the best, indeed the only, hope for us all in the years that lie ahead.
In our UAE capital of Abu Dhabi, one of our major mosques has recently been re-named the Mariam Umm Eisa mosque – or the Mary, Mother of Jesus Mosque. It is immediately adjacent to the Catholic Cathedral, the Anglican Church and the Coptic Orthodox Cathedral, where, on Fridays, the UAE’s day of rest, thousands of people, Emirati citizens and expatriates, intermingle in harmony as they go to perform their prayers.
That is the kind of society we have inherited and the kind of society we wish to cherish and preserve.
It is for me an honour that the Government which I serve has entrusted me with the task of contributing to the pursuing of that goal.
H.E. Ambassador Sergio Ugalde, Ambassador of Costa Rica / Vicepresident of the Assembly of States Parties of the International Criminal Court.
On Wednesday 31st May, the Opening Ceremony for the VI Ibero-American Week of International Justice took 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) were the speakers of such occassion.
The Opening ceremony can be watched in the IIH Facebook Page: https://es-la.facebook.com/InstitutoIIH/
Since 2011, the Ibero-American Week of International Justice is organised each year by the IIH during the first ten day of June. In its VII Edition (29 May-9 June, 2017), the Ibero-American Week comprised 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.
The Ambassador of Costa Rica, H.E. Sergio Ugalde delivered a remarkable key note speech on the importance of international Justice for Iberoamerica, the limitations and challenges of the international justice and the hope for future generations.
Here below his integral speech:
Acto de Inauguración – Discurso del Embajador Sergio Ugalde* / VII Semana Ibero-Americana de la Justicia Internacional
Señor Héctor Olasolo Alonso, Presidente del Instituto Ibero-Americano de la Haya
Señora Silvia Fernández de Gurmendi, Presidenta de la Corte Penal Internacional
Señor Johan Van der Werff, Embajador de los Países Bajo ante Organizaciones Internacionales
Excelentísimos señores Embajadores
Estudiantes y académicos participantes en la VII Semana-Americana de la Justicia Internacional
Señoras y señores:
Me es muy grato dirigir unas palabras en este acto de inauguración de la VII Semana Ibero-Americana de la Justicia Internacional.
Conviene iniciar subrayando la importancia que el Derecho Internacional tiene para la región Iberoamericana. No son pocos los aportes provenientes de la región que han contribuido significativamente a la sistematización del derecho internacional, sea por jurisprudencia, por hermenéutica o por codificación positiva.
A nivel global existe plena conciencia de los aportes y de la relevancia que el Derecho Internacional tiene para Iberoamérica, una región que hoy, mayoritariamente, confía la resolución de sus disputas a los diferentes mecanismos que tenemos al alcance, sea la mediación, el arbitraje o la jurisdicción contenciosa obligatoria, para lo cual se echa mano a la considerable gama de foros existentes, unos más especializados que otros, desde tribunales arbitrales especializados en temas de comercio e inversión, como el CIADI, hasta las cortes especializadas en asuntos del Derecho del Mar, Derechos Humanos y/o Justicia Penal Internacional, y naturalmente, la Corte Internacional de Justicia.
Hoy deseo referirme brevemente a la situación actual del derecho internacional, y ofrecerles una idea hacia dónde, en definitiva, debe evolucionar.
A pesar de los significativos avances en la creación y promoción de foros enfocados en las diversas ramas de la justicia internacional, aún estamos lejos de un verdadero y efectivo sistema de derecho internacional. Esto básicamente se debe a la fragmentación que existe en la sistematización, en algunas contradicciones en codificación positiva, y asimismo a la competencia que se genera entre los propios foros de justicia internacional. Esa fragmentación, dicho sea de paso, es también promovida por los propios estados, que buscan tener una justicia hecha a la medida, o, que estiman que la fragmentación les permite mayor flexibilidad en la interpretación del derecho internacional, acomodándolo a las necesidades políticas del momento.
Al ver el estado de la situación hoy, es obvio que el sistema de justicia internacional, cuyos cimientos están en la multilateralidad y en la universalidad, se encuentra estático, y, algunos afirman que se encuentra en un genuino retroceso, consecuencia de una franca tendencia hacia el nacionalismo.
El desafío es aún mayor considerando que son muchas las áreas donde aún debe progresarse normativamente, que debe abarcar asuntos desde la responsabilidad de los estados hasta el establecimiento de la jurisdicción universal obligatoria. Eso no significa que todo sea ominoso: lo que significa es que todos los que participamos en la gestión del derecho internacional debemos mantener nuestra marcha con firmeza.
Por supuesto que también celebramos que el derecho internacional, como nunca antes en la historia de la humanidad, haya tenido significativos avances en los últimos 70 años. La fragmentación de la que hablaba anteriormente, es también testimonio de un sistema en franca construcción, a pesar de sus limitaciones actuales. Como señala un reconocido profesor de derecho internacional “existe un sistema de derecho internacional, aun cuando sea imperfecto”. Pero al reconocer los avances alcanzados, no podemos perder de vista la importancia de su evolución hacia la armonización y la sistematización.
Al contemplar el estado de las relaciones internacionales de hoy día, aun cuando pueda juzgarse que el multilateralismo sufre por la erosión que le inflige un retoñado nacionalismo, estimo que dicha erosión es sólo temporal. Detener la marcha tampoco puede verse de forma negativa. Por el contrario, nos da la oportunidad de contemplar con cierta pulcritud las partes que conforman el sistema actual, y nos permite mejorar la carpintería en la edificación de un sistema de derecho internacional mucho más consistente y universal.
A pesar de que son muchas las tareas pendientes, como seguramente ustedes lo han podido apreciar, hay una que estimo primordial. En la sistematización del derecho internacional, aún está pendiente un trabajo mucho más preciso en la tarea de homologación de la práctica y de la jurisprudencia, que asegure su consistencia. Por donde se mire, el estallido de decisiones por toda suerte de tribunales hace que ciertos aspectos del derecho internacional no tengan una aplicación consistente. Ello atenta contra la seguridad jurídica, y cuando no hay seguridad jurídica, se pierde la confianza en el sistema de justicia.
Esta situación nos obliga entonces a desarrollar una verdadera institucionalización de la justicia internacional, la última parada de un proceso de sistematización. En otras palabras, la consumación de todo esfuerzo de sistematización debe resultar en el establecimiento de una arquitectura institucional completa, permanente y universal del derecho internacional, que garantice su consistencia, y que con ello se fortalezca la seguridad jurídica.
Sobre si esta es una tarea de las Naciones Unidas, o si espontáneamente los Estados están dispuestos a organizarse para crear una estructura supranacional que logre ese objetivo, es algo que está sujeto a debate. No tengo duda que muchos quizá opinen que el estado de la situación no debe variarse, justamente porque ello permite flexibilidad y se acomoda mejor a los objetivos geopolíticos de algunos.
Y ustedes mismos se preguntarán ¿para qué más burocracia internacional?
No se trata de crear burocracia por la burocracia misma. Se trata del establecimiento de una autoridad internacional central. Alguien dirá que esa autoridad internacional central ya existe, que se llama Corte Internacional de Justicia.
Mi respuesta es, sí y no. Si bien la CIJ cumple el papel de ser el principal órgano judicial de Naciones Unidas, no cumple el criterio de ser una autoridad central. Primero porque no tiene jurisdicción obligatoria universal. Segundo porque su competencia (distinto a su jurisdicción), también está restringida, y por ejemplo, no puede resolver una multitud de disputas surgidas entre estados por la existencia de limitaciones ratione temporis y ratione personae. Tampoco es gestor de normativa, aunque tiene el poder de interpretar la actual. Y si bien esta última cualidad convierte la CIJ en el órgano judicial más relevante a nivel mundial, carece de otras cualidades indispensables. Por ejemplo, en mi criterio, una limitación del sistema actual es el hecho de que no se puedan ejecutar sentencias judiciales, o lo que en el derecho anglosajón se llama law enforcement. Es cierto que las sentencias judiciales deben acatarse de buena fe, y que una Corte de Justicia no puede convertirse también en un policía, pero también es cierto que hay un vacío porque hasta la buena fe está sujeta a la interpretación y a la temperatura de la política internacional.
También es cierto que la Carta de las Naciones Unidas otorga una calificadísima atribución de law enforcement al Consejo de Seguridad, pero todos los que estamos aquí sabemos que eso es un eufemismo, y es un eufemismo porque, con muy contadas excepciones, es un órgano estrictamente político dominado por intereses geopolíticos, cuya incapacidad de acción es manifiesta.
Concedo que la idea de crear una institucionalidad permanente de derecho internacional, con jurisdicción universal obligatoria, sin límite de competencia, que tenga capacidad para ejecutar fallos judiciales sin interferencia política, y que además contribuya a la sistematización del derecho internacional, parece una fantasía. No obstante, en mi defensa observo que apenas unos 25 años atrás, pensar que hoy contaríamos con una Corte Penal Internacional de carácter permanente, que juzgue los peores crímenes contra la humanidad, y dónde además no fuera oponible la inmunidad de los jefes de estado, por ejemplo, era poco menos que una excentricidad, y sin embargo aquí estamos, con 20 años de Estatuto de Roma, y con más de 10 años de labor judicial, cuyo sistema de justicia penal es nada más y nada menos que presidido por una remarcable jueza iberoamericana, como lo es la Presidenta Fernández.
En la excelente oportunidad que ofrece la Semana Iberoamericana del Derecho Internacional, los invito a debatir, a criticar constructivamente, y a proponer cómo edificar un robusto sistema de derecho internacional. Les deseo mucho éxito en sus trabajos, y nuevamente agradezco la oportunidad de haberles dirigido estas palabras de reflexión.
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* Sergio Ugalde es el Embajador de Costa Rica ante el Reino de los Países Bajos, ha sido abogado y co-agente de su país ante la Corte Internacional de Justicia en unos seis casos, ha sido invitado a impartir seminarios en la Academia de La Haya de Derecho Internacional, y es actualmente el Vicepresidente de la Asamblea de Estados Parte de la Corte Penal Internacional, y es el Coordinador del Grupo de Trabajo de la Haya sobre la Corte Penal Internacional.
At the end of June the first ever Maltese Presidency of the EU came to a conclusion. To mark this occasion an EU Presidency Handover ceremony was held on the 28 June at the Embassy in The Hague with the presence of the Heads of Mission of EU Member States, candidate countries, international organizations, officials from the EEAS, European Commission representation and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Netherlands.
The ceremony was held for the first time in The Hague and a commemorative plaque was prepared by Embassy for the occasion which features the flags of the EU and the Netherlands. The plaque was presented to the Estonian Ambassador as a symbol of the EU Presidency that will be handed over to successive rotating Presidencies, with the hope that this tradition will continue in the coming years.
The Maltese Presidency was characterized by an intensified debate relating to the future of Europe. This was partly in response to the developments regarding Brexit, the rise of populism and partly in connection with the commemoration of the 60th anniversary of the signing of the Rome Treaties on 25th March. During the ceremony the Ambassador of the Republic of Malta, Mr Joseph Cole highlighted the main achievements of the Maltese Presidency.
On Migration, the Maltese Presidency worked on the external dimension and its special focus on migratory flows in the central Mediterranean. An implementation plan to reinforce regional cooperation with Libya in particular, was put in place, while action continued on the Partnership Framework agreed at the 2015 Valletta Summit on Migration. As the Presidency unfolded, progress was made on dossiers in relation to the Union’s comprehensive approach to migration, including the reform of the Common European Asylum System and effective management of external borders. There is now a common understanding that the revised EU asylum system needs to strike the right balance between responsibility and solidarity and that it needs to ensure resilience to future crises.
Several regulations, directives and decisions were agreed which enhance the scope and function of the single market and have a direct positive impact on the lives of EU citizens. These covered the areas of the digital economy, energy and climate change, consumer protection, capital markets and financial services among others.
On the Digital Single Market, the Maltese Presidency made overall progress and reached important milestones on a number of Proposals, including the portability of online content, wholesale roaming charges, as well as the Wifi4EU initiative allowing for wifi connectivity for citizens and visitors in public spaces.
A notable achievement was that in trade policy, where the Council adopted a unanimous position on the new anti-dumping methodology in record time. In the context of trade, the MT Presidency also reached an agreement on granting Autonomous Trade Measures to Ukraine.
Neighbourhood Policy was one of the areas of special priority for the Maltese Presidency. Malta is particularly gratified at the successful launching of the Partnership for Research and Innovation in the Mediterranean, known as PRIMA, which is aimed to develop innovative solutions for sustainable water provision and management and food production in the Mediterranean region. On the Eastern front, Regulation on visa liberalisation for neighbouring Ukrainian citizens was adopted. Notable accomplishments were also made in the field of the EU’s Enlargement policy, with the Maltese Presidency taking forward accession negotiations with Serbia and Montenegro.
Maritime policy was another area of special priority for the Maltese Presidency. Agreement was reached on a number of dossiers relating to port services, passenger ship safety rules and standards. Success was also achieved on a number of fisheries dossiers including the signing of the Malta MedFish4ever Declaration. This international declaration, agreed to by both EU and non-EU Mediterranean Ministers, establishes a 10-year plan intended to bring Mediterranean fish stocks to sustainability levels. The Council adopted Conclusions on International Ocean Governance, and on the priorities for the EU’s maritime transport policy until 2020.
Following the UK’s notification of its intention to withdraw from the EU on 29 March 2017 and the subsequent adoption of Guidelines by the European Council, the Presidency worked towards the adoption of the negotiating directives and authorised the opening of negotiations on the UK’s withdrawal from the European Union.
The Presidency Handover ceremony was also an occasion for the Ambassador of Estonia, Mr Peep Jahilo to provide a preview of the priorities that the Estonian Presidency will pursue in the coming 6 months. Estonia will now have the daunting task to lead the EU Council at such an unpredictable and challenging time with solutions required for Migration, Brexit and the Future of Europe.
The main goal of the Maltese Presidency was to bring the EU closer to its citizens and to bring tangible improvements to their quality of life. Malta believes this should be the goal of successive EU Presidencies to ensure a bright future for the EU.
By H.E. C. J. Augustine-Kanu, Ambassador of Grenada and Permanent Representative to the European Union, Brussels, Kingdom of Belgium.
Grenada is a tri-island state that is known interchangeably as ‘The Isle of Spice’ or the “Spice Isle.’ She has two sister islands, Carriacou and Petite Martinique. Grenada is nestled in between the islands of St. Vincent & the Grenadines to the north and Trinidad and Tobago to the south in the eastern Caribbean Sea, West Indies.
Grenada’s rich history dates back to the early Carib and Arawak Native Indians who originally inhabited the island. During the course of her history, Grenada was first ruled by Spain in 1498, then France then lastly by the United Kingdom.
On February 7, 1974, Grenada gained her independence from the British. Currently, Grenada is a Commonwealth country under a constitutional monarchy. The Head of State is HRH Her Majesty Queen Elizabeth II. The Governor General of Grenada is Dame Cecile La Grenade. The Prime Minister of Grenada is Dr. The Right Honourable Keith C. Mitchell who has been in power since 2013 and previously served as Prime Minister from 1995-2008.
Population, size and investing
The population of Grenada is approximately 108,000 and the island is 344 square km or 133 square miles. Grenada’s top exports are spices: nutmeg, mace, cinnamon, non-fillet fresh fish, cocoa beans, bananas, other exotic fruits, fresh agri-produce and vegetables. Grenada soon will be producing organic shrimp and other seafood products through a new sustainable aquaculture project that was recently launched.
Investing in Grenada is a seamless process, “…the country’s economic structure is highly diversified based on the contribution of agriculture, manufacturing, tourism, construction, communications, transportation and government”, as mentioned by the Grenada Industrial Development Corporation. GIDC – http://grenadaidc.com/ is the first stop for all investors to the island whether it is for real estate purchases, health, agriculture, or even trade / commerce projects. Grenada is ready to assist with all investment inquires, needs, retail / manufacture space and employee requirements in a safe and stable environment.
Tourism / What to enjoy!
As a tropical island, the temperature hovers around 86 F with steady flow of cool island breeze and tall palm trees for shade. The island is a popular destination for tourists who arrive to the island by either plane, yacht or cruise ship. A visit to the The National Museum of Grenada right in the capital city of St. George’s, one can further learn about the history and culture of the tri-island nation.
Locals, as well as tourists, enjoy the world famous Grand Anse Beach located in the parish of St. George’s. There are 6 parishes in total which house both hotels and rentable villas. There are 45 white sand beaches, 9 black sand beaches and 1 pink sand beach called ‘Pink Gin Beach’ to relax and unwind on. Let’s not forget the all-inclusive award wining resorts as well.
If an adventure if more your vacation style, Grenada has some of the best diving locations in the Caribbean and the first underwater sculpture park, eco-tourism tours (which includes visits to the Grand Etang Rainforest, a zip line experience, hiking trails to the numerous waterfalls around the island), authentic Grenadian culinary experience tours, chocolate experience tours and of course, rum tasting tours where you can visit the actual distilleries to see first hand how rum is made plus so much more! Do visit the Grenada Tourism Authrotiy website at www.grenadagrenadines.com for further information on the exciting experience of visiting Grenada.
————Additional information: Embassy of Grenada Avenue Louise 120 – 1st Floor 1050 Brussels Kingdom of BelgiumTel: +32 2 342 22 23Fax: +32 2 342 22 24Email: info@GrenadaEmbassy.beWeb: www.GrenadaEmbassy.be
An undersecretary for the Vatican’s new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development suggests governments split funds 50-50 between migrants and local poor in areas where they are arriving. He spoke in Berlin at the tenth Global Forum for Migration and Development.
By Joshua J. Mcelwee, Vatican Insider.
An undersecretary for the new Vatican office devoted to issues facing migrants and refugees has called on global governments to create a “permanent and generous funding facility” for the areas of the world receiving the largest numbers of migrants.
JesuitFr. Michael Czerny, one of two undersecretaries for the Migrants and Refugees Section of the new Dicastery for Promoting Integral Human Development, proposed to a roundtable forum in Berlin Wednesday that funds could be split 50-50 between aid to migrants and to local poor in the areas most affected by their arrival.
“The 50-50 principle … brings us back to one of the key foundations of the Sustainable Development Goals: to address the needs of people in both developed and developing countries in such a way that ‘No one is left behind,” said Czerny, speaking on behalf of the Holy See at the tenth Global Forum for Migration and Development.
The Jesuit told representatives taking part in the roundtable that he had recently visited Lampedusa, the Italian island accepting large numbers of migrants risking a journey over the Mediterranean to flee violence in the Middle East and Africa.
Czerny, a Canadian, said that while he was on Lampedusa he went with a parish priest to visit a harbor where the migrants are arriving.
“The dramatic, deeply human moment of arrival did not seem to promise the mutual benefit of host and origin communities,” said the undersecretary. “On the contrary, I could not help but think: ‘Here is the arrival of Africa’s best — the youth, the talent, the courage, the hope.”Yet, it seemed to be a moment of net loss for Africa, without necessarily promising much benefit to those who had survived the dangerous journey and finally arrived on shore.”
The Jesuit said the parish near the harbor, San Gerlando, “discovered an important key to moving beyond the emergency towards durable solutions.” They divide every financial donation they receive in half, with one part going towards aiding the migrants and the other towards local poor people.
Czerny said applying such a principle to international aid might make sure “the arriving poor and the local poor would be equally eligible for much-needed assistance in terms of food, water, clothing, shelter, healthcare, education, communication, security and development.”
“So-called ‘emergency’ funds will in fact move ‘beyond emergencies’ if they obey the sound principle of justice, transparency and good sense of the 50-50 approach,” Czerny suggested.
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About the author:
Joshua J. McElwee is Vatican correspondent for the National Catholic Reporter. This article has been published by The Vatican Insider 30/6/2017
A work based on the late Diana, Princess of Wales.
Spain has been fortunate for British artist, author and composer Dario Poli, known by some of his contemporaries as the “Renaissance man.” For it was here that he found the inspiration to originate and produce one of his finest musical achievements “Lady X and The Power of Destiny” in a creative collaboration with Lloyd Hulmeof Puerto Banus.
The musical drama, originally composed as a celebration of England’s favourite princess, based on the late Diana Princess of Wales. For Dario it became a long mystical and spiritual journey, an exploration of Diana’s enigmatic character, her emotions, her motivations, and her fascination with the phenomenon of love. Dario’s meticulous research into every facet of her life has resulted in a work, which has great profundity and truth to life, while acknowledging the gaiety and brilliance of a beautiful, if flawed aristocrat.
The project tells of Diana’s rise and fall, her golden yet tragic plight, in a sensitive and heartfelt piece of work that will stand the test of time, much as the light of her life will transcend the generations. Dario began the project, inspired by the muse, a project that turned into a mission for the truth – to capture the innocence of her life and a light that was tragically lost but never to be forgotten.
The musical drama was first registered in Marbella with S.G.A.E before her death; a tragedy, which galvanized Dario into re-writing almost the entire work and then re-registering the work in Malaga. The financial backers brought in by Dario, were fascinated by the quality of the music and story line, supported the composers enthusiasm and ideas, and the work was then legally constituted in Holland and Ireland.
With this funding Dario approached one of Britain’s leading musical professionals, the renowned musical director – David Redston – who Dario had previously worked with for many years and after studiously appraising their story, he agreed to work with them on the project and conducted the orchestra and directed the numerous superb vocalists on the recording.
The musical drama was recorded by a symphony orchestra, opera singers and including some singers from Riverdance at the famed Westland Studio Dublin. These complex recordings and rehearsals, were directed by David Redston following intensive rehearsals at RTE studios Dublin. It was produced by Richard Pine on the 11 September 2000, with Dario in close attendance as advisors overseeing the work.
David Redston rehearsing two of the singers.
It is a powerful and imaginative, two-act fictional musical drama of a total 2 hrs 45 minutes duration, specifically produced by its creators, to explore the tumultuous life of Lady X, a beautiful aristocrat and her entangled loves. Drawing into focus the esoteric factor X, the irresistible power of destiny and its mysterious design that inexorably acts throughout her life.
The drama intricately woven around her, expresses a gamut of emotions, containing a haunting sense of tragic premonition, which unfolds, as the complexity of her life and charisma is explored and skilfully brought to life, by the innovative story; the sensitive and incisive power of the music, words and musical arrangements.
The musical effect simply carries the songs from the hearts and minds of Dario Poli and Lloyd Hulme, into the heart and soul of the listener. The result of the collaboration between Dario and Lloyd, David Redston, the orchestra and the vocalists is truly mesmerizing and can confidently be described as ‘touching and very beautiful’
Richard Pine wrote “…. the recording demonstrates…its emotional appeal, the immediate catchiness of its rhythms and lyrics, and the richness of the orchestral texture.” … “The jewel at the heart of the musical remains that what it had been from the outset, a celebration of her life, beauty and demeanour.”
He continued on the CD cover of Diana – “The musical differs from other productions in its truth to life, its deep appreciation of the circumstances which combined to bring the aristocratic girl, Lady Diana Spencer, to the point where she became Diana, Princess of Wales, and beyond it to the divorce court, to disillusion and death.The unique proposition of the composers is its powerful combination of sing able tunes and a haunting sense of premonition.”
Dario wrote; the moral of the story is simply that, “what we say and do to other people effects and shapes their lives, whether for good or bad. Therefore, each individual has his or her own personal responsibility to manage their actions towards others”. This becomes very clear in the final moments of the Opera.
Diana – The musical: “Diana is a tasteful, very high-class production, with beautifully orchestrated songs and surprisingly tasteful sung lyrics. So beautiful from time to time, it touches the emotions”.
C 2013 – Eric Holzhauer– www.showbizzlive.com The Hague – the Netherlands.
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Special thanks to David Redston, Peter Healy, Richard Pine, Nick Bielenberg, Neil Holman and Ian Craigie and all the musicians and engineers involved in creating this superb production.
Lead Singers: Kay Lynch, Ellen Mcelroy, Brenda Brooks, Frank Beadle, Robert O’Conner, Morgan Crowley, Maggie Killen, Jimmy O Byrne,
Westland Studios, a recording studio steeped in history situated in the centre of Dublin, Ireland. Past Clients include U2, Bob Dylan, Bryan Adams and many more.
Recordings engineered by Bob Somerville, mixed by David Redston and Bob Sommerville. Richard Pine: http://www.durrell-school-corfu.org/pine.htm
Diplomat Magazine celebrated its fourth anniversary at its traditional venue, Marriott The Hague Hotel.
Starting out small with huge support of the diplomatic corps, the very first diplomatic magazine in the Netherlands history, rapidly grew into the popular magazine attracting today more than 70,000 monthly readers, alongside its special biannual printed edition.
A lunch was offered to many of Diplomat Magazine´s volunteers and staff, in the presence of Dr Mayelinne De Lara, Publisher and Mr. Vincent Pahlplatz, General Manager of Marriott The Hague Hotel.
Amongst the special invited guests were magazine´s volunteer founders, such as Dr. Eugenio Matos G., former Chargé d´Affaires a.i. in The Hague, who is currently Minister Counselor of the Dominican Republic Embassy in Montevideo, photographer Robert Huiberts and Editor Roy Lie A Tjam. Were present supporters as Mrs, Kate van der Loos, Chief photographer Kim Vermaat, photographers Hester Dijkstra and Roy Strik, Jacqueline Lie, Carlotta Duken and Inge Kluin from the Residentie Orkest.
Dr Mayelinne De Lara, Mrs Jacqueline Lie and Mr Roy Lie A Tjam.
Diplomat Magazine success can be attributed to the dedication of its staff of highly skilled contributors. It has successfully emerged as a platform for diplomatic discourse, an event organiser. The magazine’s regular agenda includes organising and supporting diplomatic networking.
Herein, some Diplomat Magazine’s facts:
We are the fastest growing diplomatic magazine in Europe and the globe.
First magazine in Europe launched by and for diplomats.
First publication in the Netherlands to join the international Public Diplomacy Awards, an academic prize to heads of diplomatic missions, already introduced in The Hague in 2016.
Diplomat Magazine holds an international record for organizing top class diplomatic events. In fact, DM has logged 62 important events since 2013. This includes Diplomats Meet & Greet, Diplomatic Farewells, Certificate of Merit, one-day trips-excursions, popular and classical concerts, business promotions, sportive events and special gatherings, fashion shows, new year´s parties, after summer cocktails, conferences and the like, all for diplomats.
Diplomat Magazine has been hired to edit, design and print five special magazines by diplomatic missions, appealed by the quality of our publication. The special issue for The 10 Year Anniversary of the Embassy of Rwanda is one of our most recent achievements.
Diplomat Magazine photographers Mrs. Hester Dijkstra and Mr Robert Huiberts.
We are directly accessible to some 1.1 million readers in Factiva –owned by Dow Jones, publisher of The Wall Street Journal.
Diplomat Magazine has included in its diplomatic repertoire a high-level academic publication entitled Border Crossing.
Considerable number of heads of states, ambassadors and ministers has chosen Diplomat Magazine to write their own free point of view.
We keep a professional neutrality on public opinion.
During the dialogue about the 50 years publication of this masterpiece, Colombian writer Dasso Saldívar and one of the most outstanding biographers of García Márquez participated as well as Mariolein Sabarte, literary translator since 1969 and who has spread great authors of the Spanish and Latin American literature in Dutch language; Maarten Steenmeijer also participated as moderator, he is a literary critic and Professor of modern Spanish and Latin American literature at Radboud University in Nijmegen.
The “García Márquez Portraits” exhibition opened during the reception hosted by the Embassy. While tasting typical Colombian snacks, the public had the chance to visit the nine portraits captured by Colombian photographer Nereo López (1920-2015) and currently in custody of the Colombian National Library. In this exhibition, “Gabo” can be discovered from his everyday life in his office to his spontaneity during the Nobel Prize for Literature ceremony in Stockholm.
This cultural event aroused great interest and the auditorium was widely attended by completing its maximum capacity. Among the guests, Ambassadors, members of the diplomatic corps of The Hague, representatives of international organizations and personalities from the Dutch society were present. 
Black Elk’s ethnographic memoir, refutes the official version of American history widespread at the time of Neihardt’s 1932 publication, which valorized western expansion and esteemed the profit-making motive as the ideal of “manifest destiny.”
The year 2016 marked the first time the destruction of cultural heritage was dealt with as a war crime. The International Criminal Court in The Hague tried and sentenced the Islamic militant, Ahmad al-Faqi al-Mahdi to nine years in prison for the cultural destruction of the historic city of Timbuktu, Mali, a Unesco World Heritage site.
Renowned through the 15th and 16th centuries as the “City of 333 Saints”, Timbuktu was a prominent center of Islamic learning that included libraries with manuscripts on mathematics and astronomy. As a head of the Ansar Eddine, a movement linked to al-Queda, al-Mahdi directed Islamist fighters to use pickaxes and chisels in razing a mosque and sacred mausoleums along with many shrines and tombs of Sufi saints, and commanded the burning of approximately 4,000 ancient manuscripts.
Since the demolition of the giant Buddha statues at Bamiyan, Afghanistan, multiple artworks, museums, libraries, and places of worship have been ravaged in the Middle East and Africa. More recently the ICC has been asked to investigate the razing of the ancient site of Palmyra in Syria.
Apart from the importance of preserving a people’s heritage–its artifacts, scripts, tombs, monuments—is the existential gravity that embeds the identity of each individual within its culture. It is the embodiment of a personal sense of being. When cultural symbols are debased or pillaged, a people’s sense of unity and kinship are degraded. When that devastation accelerates, it also deepens, breaking down each individual’s sense of self.
Even when an individual considers him/her self to be a citizen of the world beyond any particular region or nation, a steep sense of loss invades the psyche. This often can feel like an amputation, a blow that severs the spirit, because one’s personal bond with one’s past has been ransacked. Stolen. A sense of personal degradation sets in. A vital part of one becomes extinguished.
When the hallmarks of our culture are destroyed, our memory will yet retain an image of their substance, but like the image we sustain of a beloved person who has died, whose fleshly presence has departed from our midst, we sharply mourn the loss. And when we strive to kindle in the minds of our children the form, shape, and beauty of those artifacts symbolic of the culture that once linked us, encircling and protecting our endowment like a giant womb, we flounder, scanning photographs of what was lost, attempting digital replicas too inadequate to restore the original work. In vain we strive to shore some fragments against our ruins.
We are then like people who survived a tsunami, left beached among the shreds of disembodied shapes. We draw in the sand, constructing pictures for our children, for ourselves, before the surf again rises and washes out our flimsy effigies.
Beyond one’s own particular life span and the thoughts of what one leaves one’s children, what kind of legacy we offer to posterity, our thoughts speed outward—like particles birthed in a Hadron Collider–to dimensions distant from one’s daily life.
Regardless of religion, we live with intimations of unseen things–intimations of a continuity that ascends beyond our finite life to inklings of eternity.
Inklings of what may lie beyond the material world, unfolding in continuous consciousness, can be likened to the sense of an implicate order, not readily seen by the naked or the clinical eye, but that one grasps as immanent.
But here is the paradox about this implicate order: though it can generate strong imaginings about the infinite, about our spiritual nature, it relies on the material legacy of manuscripts, books, tombs, sculptures, monuments as berths in which to incubate our spirit.
Organizations like Unesco and the International Committee of the Blue Shield are forces, working to protect cultural landmarks and aid in their reconstruction. 
Both the ICC and The Hague Convention are striving to spare us from the kind of wasteland T. S. Eliot describes, as the narrator laments, “These fragments I have shored against my ruins.” They are determined to keep a peoples’ habitat from turning into a reservation.
Because materials of historical legacy are invariably necessary to mark the communal spirit from where we have come, where now we are, and to limn the connotations pointing to horizons where we yet will be.
Never Seen
There lies past sorrow a great sigh
of beauty, of distant
gods, majestic
countries one has never been or seen, but guards
the marrow where the mind lies chaste,
preserves unending kingdoms of the dream,
where neither time, nor love, nor duty pay ransom
to the hangman’s scheme.
Mara Lemanis.
About the author:
Mara Lemanis has worked as an archivist for Historical Preservation. She and the state archaeologist conducted research at numerous Sioux Nation sites in South Dakota, in the course of which she visited a Lakota Sweat Lodge and took part in the communal spirit of the purification ceremony. She was privileged to study the Oglala Sioux sites at Pine Ridge and Wounded Knee.
She has been a teacher and scholar of literature and film at Stanford and Yale; her essays have been selected for 20th CENTURY LITERARY CRITICISM and are included in undergraduate student textbooks in the U.S.
Recently she has worked with the IRC to assist refugees in Oakland, California.
Her father, Osvalds J. Lemanis, was an internationally renowned Latvian choreographer (The Royal Order of Vasa-Gustav V).
Starting out small with huge support of the diplomatic corps, the very first diplomatic magazine in the Netherlands history, rapidly grew into the popular magazine attracting today more than 70,000 monthly readers, alongside its special biannual printed edition.
A lunch was offered to many of Diplomat Magazine´s volunteers and staff, in the presence of Dr Mayelinne De Lara, Publisher and Mr. Vincent Pahlplatz, General Manager of Marriott The Hague Hotel.
Amongst the special invited guests were magazine´s volunteer founders, such as Dr. Eugenio Matos G., former Chargé d´Affaires a.i. in The Hague, who is currently Minister Counselor of the Dominican Republic Embassy in Montevideo, photographer Robert Huiberts and Editor Roy Lie A Tjam. Were present supporters as Mrs, Kate van der Loos, Chief photographer Kim Vermaat, photographers Hester Dijkstra and Roy Strik, Jacqueline Lie, Carlotta Duken and Inge Kluin from the Residentie Orkest.
