The Embassy of the Slovak Republic in The Hague has the pleasure to invite you to the Fine Art Exhibition Opening of works by Associate Prof. Stanislav Harangozó, a talented draftsman and colourist. The vernissage will take place on April 3, 2014 at the World Trade Centre Art Gallery (Prinses Margrietplantsoen 33, The Hague) at 5 p.m. The Exhibition Opening of Stanislav Harangozó, whose blending of figurative and landscape motifs enhances your imagination and painting´s metaphorical sense, will be accompanied by a guitar music performance of Ondrej Veselý.

An excellent exhibit at Panorama Mesdag in the Hague.

The International School of The Hague – Walks 4 Water with Sister Schools. On Wednesday, 19 March at 9:00 650 students from years 4-9 will set off from The International School of The Hague (ISH) to Walk4Water. Each student will walk a total of 6 kilometers carrying 3 – 6 liters of water to raise money and awareness for children in Bangladesh, in the same week as World Water Day (21/3). This year, ISH students will be accompanied by students from their Rijnlands Lyceum sister schools; ENMS (EersteNederlandsMontessoriSchool) and ESH (European School The Hague). In many developing countries women and children spend many hours per day walking in order to get water, which in many cases is not even clean water. The Max Foundation would like to change this together with the Aqua for All Foundation. Aqua for All ,joined by water companies and municipal water authorities, have developed initiatives to provide clean drinking water and introduce proper sanitation in developing countries. The Max Foundation aims to prevent child mortality through local WASH projects in Bangladesh. A combination of WAter wells, Sanitation (latrines) and Hygiene education is the most effective and most cost efficient way to combat child mortality and at the same time give small town communities perspective on the future. All money raised through this fundraising initiative will be used by the Max Foundation for its sanitation projects in Bangladesh. The Max Foundation will be able to build a water sanitation complex at schools in Bangladesh.  This means that with your help these students will have safe water, toilets and education about hygiene.  For more information please visit the websites: www.maxfoundation.nl and www.walkingforwater.eu. Last year the ISH walked with 4 year groups, raising a total of €4367,- With help and sponsorship from family members and the wider community we hope to raise even more this year.   Ingrid McKenna Assistant Principal Year 5 & 6  

By Drs. Eva Maria Mennes. From March 16 on to the end of April the famous artist José Toledo from Guatemala will present his sculptures in front of the town hall of Wassenaar De Paauw. This exposition straight from Guatemala has been in Europe before last summer at the Maison de l’ Amerique Latine in Paris and in Geneva at the Palais des Nation. You are kindly invited to the opening of this exhibition, which will be inaugurated by the mayor of Wassenaar, Drs. Jan Th. Hoekema in the presence of the ambassador of Guatemala, ir. Jorge Lemcke and the ambassador of Mexico, Mr. Eduardo Ibarrola. The exposition in an initiative of the embassy of Guatemala executed by EVA Artproductions Foundation.  

                            By Roy Lie A Tjam. The PeacePalace’s AcademyBuilding was the venue for a lecture on Friday 7 March by Judy Cheng-Hopkins, United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peace building Support. One of the key guests attending the lecture was Ruud Lubbers, the former Dutch Prime Minister and former UN High Commissioner for Refugees. Mr Lubbers is also a member of the University for Peace (UPEACE) advisory council. Also present at the lecture were Mr. Steven van Hoogstraten, General Director of the Carnegie Foundation, Marius Enthoven, Chairman of UPEACE, and Petra van der Ham, Managing Director of UPEACE The Hague. Judy Cheng-Hopkins is United Nations Assistant Secretary-General for Peace building Support. The title of Cheng-Hopkins’ lecture was: Peace building: What, Why and How? When answering the question of what is Peace building, Cheng-Hopkins set out the elements required for peace building under the acronym SCHLEP (schlep means to drag from Yiddish). S – Safety and human security Security sector reform (SSR), disarmament, demobilisation and reintegration (DDR), the Rule of law and human rights. C – Civil society Civil society mobilization and civic education, the civilian oversight of the army. H – Healing Reconciliation, mediation, transitional justice, protection, psychosocial therapy, IDPs and returnees/integration, sexual and gender-based violence (SGBV), reparations. L – Livelihoods Job creation, short-term employment generation, youth, public works. E – Empowerment of women and youth Restarting economic activities, resettlement and shelter, land reforms, natural resources. P – Public administration and accountability Re-establishing state authority, basic services provisions, institutions and local governance, constitutional reform, electoral reform processes, civil service reform, public finance management. How? – the UN envisages working towards peace building via the UN peace building architecture. Established in 2005 this consists of three pillars: the Peace building Commission, Peace building Fund and Peace building Support Office. According to Cheng-Hopkins, the role of women in peacebuilding if often not officially recognized and could be seen as the missing link in the peacebuilding process. She continued by stating that women are the ultimate victims of conflict, but also the ultimate agents of change because of their levels of responsibility for agriculture and family in developing countries. Women also play peace-building roles daily, typically at grassroots levels, for example the Acholi women groups vis-à-vis the Lord’s Resistance Army (LRA) in Northern Uganda. Cheng-Hopkins sees these women as important, every-day peace builders with importantly an innate interest for peace and a growing role in post-conflict parliaments.   More lectures on peace building will follow, www.upeace.nl