Georgia Minister visits the Netherlands

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Georgia Minister visits the Netherlands

Direct from the Embassy of Georgia.

Announcing the next visit of the State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration,Ā Alex Petriashvili to the Kingdom of the Netherlands,Ā 7-8 November, 2013 the State Minister of Georgia on European and Euro-Atlantic Integration, Mr. Alex Petriashvili will be visiting the Netherlands. The main focus of his visit will be Georgia EU relations in the particular scope of Eastern Partnership initiative and the milestone Vilnius EP summit.

In the framework of the visit, besides the high level bilateral meetings, there are several public events planned. On November 7, the State Minister will give a lecture ā€œGeorgiaā€™s political association and economic integration: Stability and Security in the EUā€™s Eastern Neighborhoodā€, at the Leiden University Campus (LUC) the Hague. The event is organized jointly with the LUC the Hague and will take place at 14.15-16.00.

On November 8, Minister Petriashvili will participate in the high level strategic session organized jointly with the Hague Institute for Global Justice. The discussions will apply to and highlight the issue of ā€œGeorgiaā€™s Association Agreement: Stability and Security in the EUā€™s Eastern Neighborhoodā€. The event will take place at the Hague Institute for Global Justice at 11.00-12.30. On the same day, Mr. Petriashvili will participate in the seminar ā€œThe Vilnius Summit: Brussels versus Moscow?ā€Ā  The seminar is organized jointly with the Clingendael Institute at takes place at the Clingendael Institute on November 8, 15.30- 17.30.

Good Governance and Rule of Law

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Good Governance and Rule of Law
New curriculum on Good Governance and Rule of Law. By Cecile Meijs, General Manager The Hague Academy for local governance. How to restore legitimacy, security and effectiveness of institutions after violent conflict? This is the key question that will be addressed in the new training curriculum ā€˜Good Governance & Rule of Law in Fragile States: statebuilding from the bottom upā€™, organised by The Hague Academy for Local Governance and The Hague Institute for Global Justice. The programme seeks to contribute to the knowledge and skills of people working for governments, NGOs and international organisations in fragile and conflict affected states. The challenges for countries affected by war, mass conflict or natural disaster are numerous. First of all, they need to restore legal order and access to justice and re-establish human security. Furthermore, basic services such as water and sanitation, health care, roads and housing must be reconstructed. Inclusive socio-economic development is necessary to create new perspectives for citizens, including youth and vulnerable groups. Finally, government accountability and trust between government and citizens should be increased to promote citizen participation, social cohesion and peaceful settlement of conflict. To increase security and rule of law, institutions at all levels need to be aware of their leadership role and responsibilities. In the immediate aftermath of war they should bring about some measure of stability, to reassert the stateā€™s monopoly on the use of violence and to send a strong signal that crimes cannot (or no longer) be committed with impunity. It will generally be necessary to engage with government institutions at central level and particularly the security sector. Yet, in many post conflict countries, particularly in rural areas, the central government and judicial institutions remain distant and detached from local realities. It is equally important therefore, that local authorities and (traditional) leaders, who are in much closer contact with citizens, are involved. The newly developed curriculum addresses the challenges of institutions in fragile and conflict affected states in a comprehensive, multidisciplinary six-week programme. Here, participants will discuss roles and responsibilities as well as practical tools for implementation and cooperation. The local context and experiences of the participants are the starting point for discussions with international top experts and a variety of interactive exercises. Participants will receive state of the art knowledge derived from the latest research findings and analyse practical cases from countries such as DR Congo, Burundi, South Sudan, Afghanistan and Libya. The curriculum is organised in The Hague, city of Peace and Justice, from 20 January to 28 February 2014. For more information about the content and the application procedure, please visit http://thehagueacademy.com/blog/2013/09/new-training-programme-good-governance-and-rule-of-law-in-fragile-states/. You can also contact programme manager Nienke Vermeulen at: nienke.vermeulen@thehagueacademy.com.  

Our past helping the future

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Our past helping the future
By Barend ter Haar, Clingendael Institute of International Relations, former Netherlands ambassador to UNESCO. How our past can help us in the future. A visitor that arrives at SchipholAirport by plane, seldom notices that he disembarks on the bottom of a big lake about three meters below sea level. He might have read that a large part of the Netherlands is below sea level, but does he realise that this implies a ceaseless fight between the Dutch and the sea? The history of this continuing fight is a fascinating story. Knowing it is essential to understand the peculiar form of the Dutch landscape but also to understand Dutch culture and politics. If you want to know this story, there is no better and more enjoyable manner than by taking a few days off to visit the World Heritage Sites in the Netherlands. Seven of them are directly related to water and together they tell the story of the fighting marriage between the Dutch and the sea. Start with the Waddensea. It shows you how a large part of the Netherlands would look like if we would allow the sea back in: beautiful, but little room for people to live. Sometimes we lost our battle with the sea and had to abandon an island. The former island of Schokland tells that story. The windmills at Kinderdijk and the steam pumping station at Lemmer illustrate our centuries long quest to develop techniques that make it possible to live permanently in polders below sea level. The Beemster, to the North of Amsterdam, is a perfect example of such a polder. The seventeenth-century canals of Amsterdam are above all a landmark of city planning combining water, buildings and green spaces. The fortresses around Amsterdam show how the Dutch have used their knowledge of hydraulic engineering for defence purposes. The continuous rise of the sea level and the higher frequency of periods of extreme rain or drought that we have to reckon with can threaten this heritage. But by visiting and learning about that heritage, people can become aware that the availability of safe drinking water and the protection against floods can never be taken for granted. Such awareness, both of governments and of the general public, of the need to pay continuous attention to our relationship with water will be crucial. The Netherlands is of course not the only country built at the border of land and sea. Many civilisations and cities were built in deltaā€™s and their heritage is therefore endangered by climate change. But the heritage can be used to inform the public and spatial planners. In order to share experiences on heritage protection and water management and to promote international cooperation, ICOMOS (the International Council on Monuments and Sites) convened last September an international conference in Amsterdam. More than 100 water, heritage and planning experts from over 20 countries participated. The conference resulted in The Statement of Amsterdam: ā€œProtecting deltaā€™s: heritage helps!ā€ (see http://www.icomosconference.nl )  

Brazilā€™s speech about the Internet at 68th UNGA

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Brazilā€™s speech about the Internet at 68th UNGA
By MarĆ­lia Maciel, coordinator of the Center for Technology & Society of the Getulio Vargas Foundation (CTS/FGV), and DiploFoundation associate. During the 68th meeting of the United Nations General Assembly, Brazilian president Dilma Rousseff delivered a remarkable speech against the surveillance of communications by the National Security Agency of the United States (NSA). She mentioned that Brazil would ā€œredouble its efforts to adopt legislation, technologies and mechanismsā€ to protect Brazilians from the ā€œillegal interception of communications and dataā€ [1]. These were not empty words. Brazil is still toddling, but is also decidedly trying to develop policies on the national level and to foster international cooperation that could mitigate the risk of surveillance. Regarding technology and infrastructure, one of the measures that gathered attention was the much-announced BRICS cable, which should connect the five countries. The determination to go ahead with this plan became stronger after news that submarine cables have been wiretapped by the NSA. Although some actors have expressed concerns about this move from BRICS[2], a cable seems to be a natural step to enhance communications among a group of countries that holds approximately 45% of the world population and 25% of GDP. Together with the deployment of Internet Exchange Points (IXPs), it would contribute to decentralize Internet traffic, avoiding its unnecessary routing through the United States. Brazil is also concerned with the development of national technology. The country aims to put in place an e-mail service managed by Correios, a state-owned firm responsible for the postal services in Brazil. Although it is unlikely that it will manage to compete with services such as Googleā€™s Gmail, the development of national platforms could be positive, especially if they use open software, which is more transparent and allows the scrutiny of its code for the identification of eventual backdoors. On the regulatory arena, the Brazilian government has been pushing for the adoption of a bill known as the Civil Rights Framework for the Internet, a collaboratively written proposal that clarifies the rights and responsibilities of Internet users, and that has been stalled in Congress for two years. Although this bill does not aim to tackle problems such as espionage, the government introduced controversial changes motivated by recent revelations, such as the need for companies like Google and Facebook to store communications of Brazilian citizens in data servers located in Brazil. Although this measure would have little impact on espionage, it would probably address the concerns of law enforcement actors who face difficulties to obtain information necessary for criminal persecution through MLATS. Finally, Rousseffā€™s speech also touched upon issues related to Internet governance mechanisms. She mentioned the need to develop multilateral frameworks with the participation of society, governments and the private sector. She also subscribed to principles that are important to most stakeholders, such as network neutrality and freedom of expression. In response, she received a letter of support from global civil society. Moreover, the CEO of ICANN ā€“ the US based organization that manages Internet domain names and numbers ā€“ argued in a recent visit that Brazil has a very important role to play in re-establishing trust on the Internet and fostering institutions that can make this happen.[3] Brazil and ICANN announced that the country aims to convene a summit to discuss Internet Governance in 2014. NSA surveillance triggered not only diplomatic reactions[4], but also the development of technical and legal proposals that may have an impact on the Internet, from the infrastructure to the applications layer, even if their efficacy to curb espionage is still debatable. They may ultimately bring about a reshaping of the Internet governance regime in the upcoming years. Marilia.maciel@fgv.br | http://direitorio.fgv.br/ctsĀ  | Twitter: @MariliaM[1] http://gadebate.un.org/sites/default/files/gastatements/68/BR_en.pdf[2] http://gizmodo.com/how-brazil-wants-to-purge-america-from-its-internet-aft-1333914046Ā [3] Fadi ChehadĆ©ā€™s video statement. Available from <http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nJmFAMJNx94>Ā [4] https://diplomatmagazine.eu/2013/09/29/snowden-in-brazil/

Three key challenges for public diplomacy

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Three key challenges for public diplomacy
By Keith Dinnie, Founder, Brand Horizons Public diplomacy ā€“ which may be defined as reaching out to audiences beyond the diplomatic corps and government in the receiving state ā€“ poses a number of challenges that embassies must address. Whilst the concept of public diplomacy is relatively well established, the quality and effectiveness of public diplomacy programmes in practice fluctuates wildly from one embassy to another. Three of the key issues to consider in public diplomacy include the influence of individual ambassadors; the use of celebrities; and the appropriateness of using social media. The attitude and behaviour of individual ambassadors can influence not only the effects of public diplomacy programmes, but also the very existence or otherwise of such programmes. When an ambassador actively supports public diplomacy activities and encourages other individuals within the embassy to contribute their ideas and energy, the results can be impressive. On the other hand, when an ambassador frowns on such initiatives, inertia sets in. A diplomat at an embassy in Washington D.C. informed me recently that his suggestions to implement public diplomacy initiatives were flatly rejected on the grounds that ā€œIt is not the governmentā€™s job to promote our countryā€. Public diplomacy attempts to engage with the general population in foreign countries. To this end, celebrities can play a powerful role in establishing perceptions of the country which they are from. For example, within Japan, public perceptions of Estonia are based exclusively on one person ā€“ the sumo ozeki Baruto, a successful and hugely popular sumo wrestler who comes from Estonia. Baruto regularly appears at events designed to cement relations between Estonia and Japan, and his presence is valued by the Embassy of Estonia in Japan. Other embassies, however, do not reach out to their diaspora ā€“ celebrities or otherwise ā€“ and thus miss out on what may potentially be the only means by which they will generate interest in their country amongst foreign populations. The use of social media is an emerging trend in public diplomacy programmes. High profile social media brands such as Twitter, Facebook and YouTube offer countries as well as individual diplomats the opportunity to reach wider audiences than ever before. The best known example of a country embracing a user-generated content approach to social media is the Curators of Sweden campaign, in which each week a different Swedish citizen is allowed to curate the @Sweden national Twitter profile. The stated objective of this campaign is to promote interest and confidence in Sweden around the world. However, the downside to the campaign is the risk of individual citizens tweeting offensive content. Such a hands-off approach to public diplomacy may not be appropriate for most countries. Ā keithdinnie@brandhorizons.com      

Gabrielle McIntyre, ICTY Candidate

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Gabrielle McIntyre, ICTY Candidate
By Gabrielle McIntyre, Judicial Candidate for ICTY Election. The next international judicial election will occur on 18 November 2013, when the General Assembly of the United Nations elects a single permanent judge to serve in the Appeals Chamber of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). I am one of six candidates for this position. I am deeply honoured to have been nominated for the position by Saint Vincent and the Grenadines, in keeping with the long commitment the Caribbean region has shown to international criminal justice and as part of a merit-based approach to international judgeships. Ā I am similarly honoured to have the strong support of Australia, my country of nationality. From 2003 I have served as the most senior legal advisor to the past three Presidents of the ICTY, who serve ex officio as the presiding judge of the Appeals Chamber of both the ICTY and International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR). Ā As a result, I am a candidate who is intimately familiar with the appellate practice and procedures of the ICTY and ICTR and who has deep, first-hand knowledge and experience of drafting and advising on ICTY and ICTR appeals jurisprudence. Ā Notably, the person elected to this position would not only serve on the ICTY Appeals Chamber but would also, pursuant to the Statute of the ICTR, serve on the ICTR Appeals Chamber. Ā If elected, my long experience with the work of the Tribunals would enable me to make a substantive contribution from day one, thus advancing the completion of the work of both tribunals. In addition, of the six candidates, I am the only woman. Ā At present there are no female permanent judges who have been elected or appointed to the ICTY. Ā  If elected, I would bring valuable gender diversity to the ICTY complement of judges. I am visiting embassies in The Hague to present my candidacy and answer any questions. Ā In the last two weeks alone I have been received by over 30 embassies and met with ambassadors and legal advisors from every geographic region and from a broad spectrum of legal backgrounds. Ā  These visits have proved immensely fruitful to me as a candidate and as an individual. Ā I have valued deeply these discussions and I am immensely impressed by the commitment to international criminal justice expressed by the members of the diplomatic corps, and by the well-informed questions and concerns raised. Ā  ā€“ Gabrielle McIntyre (gabriellelouisemcintyre@gmail.com)  

Congratulations!

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Congratulations!

By Alexander W. Beelaerts van Blokland, Ā Judge in the Court of Appeal & honorary Special Advisor International Affairs of the Municipality of The Hague.Ā 

The Hague was world news twice during the last few months. On August 28th with 100 years Peace Palace with our King, UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon and our Prime Minister Rutte. It was on the day that the USA was about to attack Syria because of the chemical weapons. I was sitting in the Peace Palace almost next to the Director General of OPCW, H.E. Ahmet ƜzĆ¼mcĆ¼, who told me that he was very nervous about the situation. But see what happened in the weeks afterwards: a diplomatic solution, Syria becoming member of OPCW and on top of it: on Friday October 11th the OPCW, with its headquarter in The Ā  Hague, received the Nobel Peace Prize. Our congratulations !

Impressive also was the state visit of Israelā€™s president Shimon Peres. I was invited by H.E. Haim Divon to the Portugese Synagoge in Amsterdam, where during more than an hour the elder statesman (90!) answered all kinds of questions. We all realized that he was already 25 years old when the state Israel was established in 1948 and that mr. Peres played an important role during all its 65 years of existing. On Monday October 14th I was present at two other celebrations. First as a guest ofĀ  H.E. Ugur Dogan, ambassador of Turkey and his wife Manolya. She wrote a very nice book about the beautiful Turkish Residence at Prinsessegracht 29, completed in 1734. I was invited because one of my direct ancestors (seven generations) lived there shortly afterwards, in the middle of the 18th century. Then a quick bicycle ride to Kasteel De Wittenburg in Wassenaar, where Ā International Womenā€™s Contact The Hague celebrated its 35 years of existence. As one of only a few men I was invited too and enjoyed it very much. a.beelaerts@planet.nl

Poor in Holland

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Poor in Holland
By Richard Griffiths. Watch commercial TV at the moment and the chances are that you will see this advertisement from Nationaal Fonds Kinderhulp (National help the Children Fund)). A girl, aged ten or eleven, runs after her school friends. She is white, with dark blond hair and she is obviously Dutch. So are her school friends, but they all have bicycles and she does notā€¦. and slowly the gap between them widens as they cycle out of the village. She cannot follow. She is POORā€¦. just like almost 400,000 other children! But she is not justĀ  like 400,000 other children. Let us stay for a moment with the idea that there are 400,000 poor children in the Netherlands. In the this country, of the 400,000 children living in low income households, 55 per cent are Dutch. But given the fact that non-Western households are likely to have more children, the chances probably slightly less than 50 percent that the cycle-less child will be a white Dutch girl. Now, there is a difference between income and wealth.Ā  A familyā€™s current budget might be tight, but that may be only a short-term inconvenience. In the earlier period of relative prosperity, they may well have had the money too have purchased a bike. Not so the longer term low-income families.. but then the number of children is probably nearer 110,000, and even more likely to be from non-Dutch origins. And how poor are the poor in the Netherlands? Slightly over ninety per cent managed a hot meal with either meat, fish or chicken every day. Sixty-five per cent could afford to buy new clothes regularly and slightly over half could afford at least a week away from home on holiday. A recent OECD report took as a yardstick for poverty for international comparison a real income equivalent to half the median income. With a high median income, the Dutch had the ninth highestĀ  poverty threshold in the OECD. It also came in tenth in rank order with the percentage living under that threshold and those that did so enjoyed the 4th highest real disposable income in the OECD (behind Luxembourg, Norway and the USAā€¦ all significantly richer). But let us return to the advertisement. How many of the 400,000 children does the charity expect to please with a bicycle this Christmas? About two hundred (this is not a misprint) at an average cost ofĀ  ā‚¬150 each. Why not buy them second-had? Why not haveĀ  bike donation scheme? Why not collect and tidy-up some of the hundreds of abandoned bikes each year? As matters now stand, the other 399,800 will have to wait another year. SCP/CBS,Ā  Armoedesignalement 2012 OECD, Divided We Stand (2011)

Greece National Day

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Greece National Day
By Teresa-Praskevi Angelatou, Ambassador of Greece to the Netherlands. GREECE, ON THE OCCASION OF THE NATIONAL DAY ON OCTOBER 28th. Greece is one of a small number of countries that have two National days in a year. While one, on March 25th, is Independence Day, the other, on October 28th, commemorating the entrance to WWII, is Greeceā€™s testimony to liberty, democracy and human dignity. We are honored to celebrate this day in the Netherlands, a friendly country that has shown on repeated occasions it shares the same ideals and principles. On its part, Greece, despite the difficulties it has faced and still continues to face, has never diverted from its conviction that liberty, democracy and human rights form the cornerstone of our European political culture and, has always strived to contribute with all its means. Carrying a heavy responsibility and tradition, having been called the ā€œcradle of democracyā€, Greece is today more committed than ever in the safeguarding and promotion of these values which guide us to and guarantee us peace and prosperity. Through our active participation in every international and regional initiative that promotes the rule of law, human rights, democratic governance and civic society we aim to promote democratic practice and remain determined to continue doing so for many years to come.

Ukraine today

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Ukraine today
By Olexander Horin, Ambassador of Ukraine to the Netherlands. I have honour and privilege to represent here Ukraine, one of the oldest countries in Europe with an ancient history starting from time of the formation of Kievan Rus when the capital city Kiev reached its apogee under Prince Volodymyr the Great (Vladimir II) and his son Prince Yaroslav I (the Wise) who is also known as ā€˜Father in Law of Europeā€™. Ukraine had difficult history of struggle for independence with missing opportunities and chances. In 1991 the millennium quest for independence had been successfully sealed by the national referendum. Today Ukraine as European country is making its civilizational choice, which is integration into the family of European Nations. This is a conscious choice and it is irreversible. The institutionalization of Ukraine – EU political, legal and economic partnership based on the Association Agreement incl. DC FTA is an important factor for strengthening of the democratic and market institutions in Ukraine, modernization of state, reform of the economy and society, rule of law, expansion of the common values and acceleration of pro-European transformation processes in the region of the Eastern Partnership. It is directed towards full-fledged integration of Ukraine into European Economic Area. Political association and economic integration between Ukraine and the EU will contribute to revealing full potential of bilateral relations between Ukraine and the Netherlands, boost mutually beneficial trade, investments, technological exchange and people-to-people contacts. The Ukrainian citizens, who rightfully consider and perceive themselves as Europeans, see the Association Agreement with the EU as a beacon of welfare, stability, security and independence. This is indeed the moment of truth, the choice which will determine the vector of Ukraineā€™s development for the next decades. Ukraine has achieved tangible progress in implementation of all the criteria for the signing of Ukraine-EU Association Agreement, which were outlined in the Conclusions of the Foreign Affairs Council on Ukraine of 10 December 2012. At the same time Association Agreement incl. DC FTA is an important powerful tool of reform in Ukraine. There is much work to be done on reforming the country with a view to approximating to EU standards, implementing democratic values and European norms of life. From this perspective, the signing and launching of the widest possible provisional application of the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU will be the best incentive and guarantee for proceeding with implementation of wide-ranging reforms aimed at further strengthening of the democratic development, the rule of law and the development of a market economy. Taking into account Ukraine’s progress as well as the geopolitical factors the Association Agreement between Ukraine and the EU should be signed this year. The conclusion of this strategic document between Ukraine and the EU will be a major success not only for the Ukrainian people, but also for the East European region, which is striving for support from the EU and count on its solidarity. The successful deliverables of Vilnius Eastern Partnership Summit are important also for the EU as the proof of strengthening of its own foreign policy stand in regional and global policy. At this historic stage of development of the Ukrainian state the support of the Netherlands for the conclusion of the Association Agreement with the EU during the Summit of the Eastern Partnership on 28-29 November 2013 is highly appreciated. We are completely satisfied with the dynamic development of our political dialogue as well as bilateral cooperation between Ukraine and the Netherlands in all spheres. The recent visit of Mr. M.Azarov, the Prime-Minister of Ukraine to the Netherlands gives a positive impetus to strengthening our cooperation in all areas of bilateral relations. Thus, we have an encouraging tendency towards serious growth of trade in goods beginning with January 2013. It is our important mutual responsibility to preserve that tendency in the run of the year. Given the current tendencies we believe that the Netherlands could really become the second largest investor in Ukraineā€™s economy to outrace Germany. We welcome a growing interest of the Dutch companies to the Ukrainian market and the level of the Dutch investments in the Ukrainian economy. It is my pleasure to state that in 2012 we managed to overcome a $5 billion in the volume of the Dutch FDI in Ukraineā€™s economy. In this regard we welcome the presence at Ukraineā€™s market of such prominent Dutch companies as ā€œShellā€, ā€œINGā€, ā€œKLMā€, ā€œPhilipsā€, ā€œUnileverā€.Ā  Ukraine attaches great importance to the development of constructive and pragmatic dialogue with the Netherlands in all spheres of bilateral cooperation. We fully confirm our willingness to further develop mutually beneficial partnership and convergence of our friendly countries and peoples and count on continued active support by the Netherlands of Ukraineā€™s aspirations on its path to our common European home. Ā      Ā 
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