Proposal for South East Europe Student visit on International Law in The Hague

Organized by the Municipality of The Hague, Department of International Affairs,

The Hague is the international city of peace, justice and security. With its many international courts and tribunals, and International Organizations and NGO’s, it is undoubtedly one of the most important places in the world of international law & justice. A place each (international) law student interested in the work of the international juridical system should have visited at least once. The Hague is offering 20 students from Serbia, Croatia and Bosnia & Herzegovina the chance to come and visit the city and its international institutions. The goal of this visit is to have the students experience how the institutions like The International Criminal Court, the International Court of Justice and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY) work. In this way the understanding of these institutions will grow, which will support the students in their study and career. Another objective of the visit is to show the students the city of The Hague and Scheveningen. Both places are well known in South East Europe, but mainly for the fact that the ICTY and its detention centre are based there. During their visit, the student will have the chance get to know the other side of the city by exploring the museums, the nightlife, the beach and the beauty of The Hague.

Furthermore, this visit will provide the students with a chance to meet each other, work with each other and exchange experiences and ideas.

Participants are students from the law faculty of the University of Belgrade, Sarajevo and Zagreb in their 4^th year of study. Each University can send 5 students and 1 teaching assistant.

Selection will take place through an essay-competition and interviews. All students from the eligible faculties are invited to write a short essay on a topic related to The Hague, its legal institutions and / or international law. The best 10 essays from each faculty are selected, and these students are being interviewed in order to test their English proficiency and their motivation.

The essays will be selected by a commission of University representatives, representatives of The Hague and external experts. ICTY has already showed interest to be involved for example. Also the lecturers in the program will be asked to be on the committee.

The interviews will be done by the universities itself, with a staff-member of The Hague if necessary.

The visit includes the following, without costs for the participants:

-Travel costs to and from The Hague

-Accommodation (7 nights)

-Breakfasts, lunches and diners during their stay

-A 5 day International Law program, including fieldtrips

-Social activities

The following issues have to be arranged and paid for by the students:

The visit will last 7/8 days and will take place in the beginning of May. Students will arrive on a Sunday and leave on a Saturday or Sunday. During the weekdays, they will visit several institutions and get lectures. In the weekends, and during some evenings social activities take place. The students will visit cultural events, the beach and the city-centre.

Visiting the ICTY will form an important element of the program. At least two days will be spent there. First there will be a tour through the building, after which presentations are held and the students will follow workshops. At the end, students are asked to give a presentation about the topic they dealt with in the workshops. 

The rest of the program will consist of visits to the ICC, ICJ and OSCE. Also, some high level speakers will deliver a lecture and go in to debate with the students. At the end of the week, groups of students are asked to give a small presentation.

Furthermore, much attention is spent on social and cultural activities. The group will visit a theatre, movie, dancing performance or concert. These events are meant to show The Hague and to give the students a chance to learn to know each other better. 

Saturday will be used to take the students on a guided bicycle tour through The Hague, past all interesting places in the centre, to the government and past the palace of the queen. In the afternoon the beach will be visited if the weather is good.

As a means of promotion, a delegation of the city of The Hague, preferably including the mayor or an alderman will visit the participating Law faculties in the Balkan to announce the essay-competition. The mayor of The Hague Mr. Wim Deetman has paid a very successful visit to the three law-faculties before. During his visits, he held a presentation about The Hague and international law for audiences of over 500 interested students. A high-level visit like this sends a positive message to the visited countries, and to the students. By connecting such a visit to the promotion or start of the essay competition, and drawing enough media-attention, the The Hague student-project will be broadly advertised. The ICTY has given support to the idea and is willing to join the promotion campaign. Officers of the ICTY could deliver a short presentation or speech. 

Media from SEE and the Netherlands will be invited to report before, during and after the visit.