By Yun Xie. Yun Xie, together with five other artists, shows her beautiful art at the exhibition in the famous building of Ernst & Young. The exhibition runs from 16 May until 29 August. The address is Wassenaarseweg  80 the Hague. If you are interested in visiting and enjoying this exhibition during office hours, please phone Ms. Tineke Heins (088-4073848) from EY for a guided tour. Yun Xie invites you come to Amsterdam Annual Dutch Art Fair (www.adaf.nl) on 27-28th of Sep. Her booth is No.53. Yun Xie came from China and is now living in the Hague the Netherlands. She is a member of the Dutch National Association for Visual Artists. Yun Xie works with ceramics and acrylic or oil on canvas. She loves Chinese culture and art, especially after she left China. Longing for her motherland and relatives, she picked up a paintbrush and a carving tool. Her cultural background and memories are reflected in the art she is displaying in the exhibition. Her work always has a specific Chinese character and soul. In fact she feels she is a cultural ambassador and has a responsibility to show the uniqueness of the ancient Chinese culture and art to the Western world. The passion for creating ceramic sculptures and paintings comes from memories that she brought with her from China, where the use of ceramics already has a long history. By painting and especially working with clay she feels free and connected to the China. Her paintings and sculptures are always focused on people in their everyday environment. She loves the feelings that people radiate and show. Her images of people give her the ability to translate positions, attitudes and feelings in her sculptures. This also applies to her paintings. She always say: “The sculptures and the paintings are my cultural soul. They are part of my life.” More info you can see in http://yunxie-art.com or email to: yunxie@xs4all.nl

Revolution in democracy with the launch of “ISPD+ Innovation in Diplomacy Network”, the first network that will democratise diplomacy. Last Friday, 23rd May at the International School of Protocol & Diplomacy, Open Doors event inspired by Brussels Jazz  Marathon. An established school of protocol and diplomacy from the heart of Europe, ISPD, has announced last Friday, the launch of the first network of innovation in diplomacy in the world, bringing together more than 90 countries and becoming, from day one, the most diverse platform solely dedicated to innovation in diplomacy. The new concept targets diplomats, official event organizers, protocol professionals, journalists, translators, corporate diplomats, CEO’s and international projects’ managers, and helps them to get back on track with solving the puzzle of modern diplomacy in organizations, governments and companies using proven, real-world tools and techniques. Members learn how to make an immediate impact on the global transformation of diplomacy.  As Thomas Sladko, ISPD Expert in Protocol & Organisation of High Level Events and Austrian Chancellery Deputy Chief of Protocol said “There is no second chance in protocol” News Facts – The mission of the “ISPD+ Innovation in Diplomacy Network” is to democratize diplomacy, to promote global elite of Innovators in diplomacy and to aid, assist, foster and promote the soft diplomacy education of development countries such as Africa, Latin America and Southeast Asia. – The main objective of the network is to democratize diplomacy and its knowledge across cultures, valorizing local and national branding towards a global focus. – The new network will start operations on the 1st September 2014 with a launching number of anticipated 1500 members. ISPD+ is powered by the ISPD, The International School of Protocol and Diplomacy, and its founder Ines Pires, “Protocol is about others, not about ourselves”. This is a real-world issues covered by type of membership horizontally organized  operated through a membership offering added value on real-world diplomacy matters. H.E Luis Ritto, ISPD Emeritus Professor and former EU Ambassador to the Holy See and Order of Malta, recently said that “The economic power of the EU has declined sharply in recent times. Europe has since 2008 suffered an unprecedented economic and financial crisis, for which the EU was not prepared and which was tackled in a disunited and inefficient way by the EU political authorities causing decisions to be taken late and with little practical results” For more information about ISPD+ Innovation in Diplomacy contact Julia Stanczak, Communications Officer at j.stanczak@ispdnetwork.org  

On 23 May 2014, National Law University, Delhi, won the final round of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Competition, English version. Pictured here is the winning team with ICC Judge Howard Morrison in ICC Courtroom I in The Hague (Netherlands), from left to right:Judge Morrison, Dhruv Sharma, Amrutanshu Dash, Sanjeevi Seshadri, Ishan Patnaik and Rakesh Jayakumar © ICC-CPI Today, 23 May 2014, National Law University, Delhi, won the final round of the International Criminal Court (ICC) Trial Competition, English version, held in ICC Courtroom I in The Hague (Netherlands). Hebrew University of Jerusalem and China Foreign Affairs University won, respectively, second and third place. The winning team comprises Dhruv Sharma, Amrutanshu Dash, Sanjeevi Seshadri, Ishan Patnaik and Rakesh Jayakumar. The Best Speaker award from the entire English-language competition went to Elizabeth Brown of the University of New South Wales, which competed in the preliminary rounds. This year, 49 teams comprising a total of 290 participants from 35 countries worldwide participated in this year’s English-language simulation exercise on the applicable law and jurisprudence of the ICC. Before a bench composed of ICC Judge Howard Morrison (presiding), Special Assistant to the ICC President Philipp Ambach, and ICC Legal Officer Mary-Anne Power, the teams competed on a fictitious case, presenting oral arguments during an appeals hearing in the roles of Prosecution, Defence and Legal Representatives of a Government. After a break for deliberations, ICC Judge Morrison announced the bench’s decision and an awards ceremony was held for all participants. The finalists’ peers attended the event in the Court’s public galleries and the event was web streamed live on the Court’s official website. The ICC Trial Competition is organised by the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies of Leiden University, The Hague Campus, with the institutional support of the ICC. Also cooperating on the project are the Federal Department of Foreign Affairs (FDFA) of Switzerland, the Planethood Foundation, the Ministries of Foreign Affairs of Luxembourg and The Netherlands, the Municipality of The Hague, the Ministry of Security and Justice of the Netherlands, The Hague Institute for Global Justice, the Embassy of Ireland, the Lutfia Rabbani Foundation, and the International Committee of the Red Cross. In the context of its Academic Programme, the ICC supports the organisation of ICC Trial 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. View photographs of the event here.

By Bonnie Klap, Editor in Chief. It is no doubt astonishing to many that  in a wealthy country like The Netherlands, a country contributing one of the highest percentages of its GDP in the world  to Foreign Aid, more than one million of its own  people live in relative poverty.  The sad truth is that, due to a variety of reasons, one of which is of course the economic crisis,  the incomes of these people are below a certain marker for poverty . Thirty-five thousand  families comprising  of 85,000 persons in total  are, at times,  not able to put enough food on the table. Fortunately there is “Voedselbank Nederland,” ( Foodbank Netherlands),  a non-profit organization with 8300 hardworking volunteers, all dedicated to help these people feed their families. Founded in 2002 this organization works together with food companies, who donate food products which would otherwise be discarded. For instance  foods, of which  the ’sell-by date’ on the package has expired, but  are otherwise  perfectly edible, are donated to the voedselbank. The benefits are  clearly twofold: feeding a family in need and preventing  the squandering of food and resources.  Every Monday the food companies communicate with the Voedselbank informing  them which foods are going to be donated, leaving the 8300 volunteers to the complicated task of compiling a  foodbasket containing a variety of quality, preferably healthy foods. It is yet another example of the importance of volunteers. Increasingly a wide array of  support and services in The Netherlands rely on volunteers – either part-time or full-time –  to operate. Indeed, without volunteers  the Diplomat Magazine would not exist! Even the Dutch Royal couple, King Willem Alexander and his charming wife Queen Maxima, are convinced of the importance of volunteer work and strive to give a good example. Despite their busy  schedules,  they can be seen doing volunteer work from time to time.  Fortunately, there is quite an impressive number of volunteers in The Netherlands, but  there is always a need for a few more. Food for thought.  

By Motoo Noguchi, Chair of the Board of Directors.

International Criminal Court (ICC) is well-known in The Hague as the first permanent international criminal tribunal in the history of mankind which punishes the crime of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes. However, it may not be well-known that the Trust Fund for Victims (TFV) at the ICC is similarly the first of its kind in the history of international criminal justice in providing reparations and assistance to victims of these crimes. In fact, the aspect of reparative justice is one of the core elements of the Rome Statute and perhaps the most innovative and ambitious one.

The TFV has two main mandates: to implement Court-ordered reparations for victims (reparations mandate) and to provide physical, psychological, and material support to victims (assistance mandate). In the absence of finalized criminal convictions so far, the TFV has been active with the assistance mandate since 2008 in northern Uganda and the eastern part of the Democratic Republic of the Congo. The number of direct beneficiaries of programmes in these countries has amounted to more than 120,000.

The TFV’s assistance includes a wide variety of activities, from the provision of orthopedic surgery and artificial limbs to micro-financing schemes for victims of sexual and gender based violence to peace education at peace schools for youth including former child soldiers. The TFV’s assistance addresses the sufferings of victims not as those of isolated individuals but as those of family and community members, and therefore aims to assist them in returning to an important member of the family and community. Through community sensitization, the TFV also tries to improve social and cultural environments which often put victims in double-victimization such as discrimination against victims of rape.

The TFV depends its financial basis for the assistance mandate entirely on voluntary contributions from the States and donations from private sectors. This also applies to the reparations mandate, except when assets of the convicted person or assets originating from forfeiture or fine constitute a main source. Every year, the TFV spends approximately around €2 million for programmes under the assistance mandate, but there are still many victims who are beyond the reach of ongoing programmes. Hundreds of thousands of victims, who have nobody else to cry for help, are waiting for the TFV’s interventions to be expanded.

Here is what I would like to cordially invite you to play a lead role by raising awareness and strengthening political and financial support for the TFV. That will allow the TFV to be a more powerful vehicle to bring justice for victims of the most serious international crimes. Despite the nature of crimes as “international”, the sufferings and loss of individual victims are local and personal. Their lives have unfortunately turned to be difficult by conflicts beyond their control. Your leadership will certainly help them restore their hope and dignity, recover their lives, and return to respectful members of the community.

By Amanda Taylor, Research Assistant T.M.C. Asser Instituut The Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER)- hosted by the T.M.C. Asser Instituut in The Hague- will convene the second conference relating to its current research project “Human Security: a new framework for enhanced human rights in the EU’s foreign security and migration policies”. This project is implemented with the support of the Lifelong Learning Programme (LLP) of the European Union. On the fourth of July 2014 the conference at T.M.C Asser Instituut will break new ground through its focus on the potential impact that the concept of Human Security can have, from a legal perspective, on the application of EU rules pertaining to asylum and border controls. Every Member State of the European Union is, in some way, affected by mixed movements of persons entering the territory from a third country. As a result, over the past few years, a complex set of challenges have been brought to the forefront, with many Member States struggling to co-ordinate their responses when faced with increasing numbers of economic migrants, irregular migrants and/or persons seeking international protection. This, in turn, has placed a spotlight on asylum instruments developed by the Union, who have had legislative competence in the field of migration, border controls and asylum since the nineties. Union legislation along with policy programmes have been geared to the creation of a Common European Asylum System and a common policy on external border control. A main objective of the system has been to harmonise domestic legislation on minimum standards of protection for those in need. However, these legislative instruments have been put to the test in the aftermath of the Arab Spring and other events such as the on-going Syrian crises with academics criticising Member States selectivity of EU provisions and their poor enforcement. In turn, Member States, themselves, have criticised notions of “burden sharing” and “solidarity” as being unequal, with certain countries bearing the brunt of EU asylum obligations. It is in this environment that the CLEER conference seeks to cultivate a new approach to the topic through its evaluation of the CEAS in the light of the Human Security paradigm. A notion which is yet to be used in the context of European asylum law, but one which could enrich protection standards, since refugee movements  are inextricably linked to and highly indicative of human insecurity. With a forum of expert speakers from both academic and practitioner backgrounds, the objective of the conference will be to trigger an inter-disciplinary debate taking stock and appraising recent legal and policy developments in the CEAS through the lens of Human Security. The conference will be of direct interest to everyone working and studying in the area of Freedom, Security and Justice of the EU, notably the asylum and refugee fields. Each panel will be followed by a question and answer session allowing for the audience to participate in the debate, thereby forging new perspectives on EU asylum law and its protection regime. For more information on the conference click here. The event is free of charge, however registration is required. Please register here.