The
Hague Justice Portal (in French:
'Portail judiciaire de La Haye' ) is a website that promotes, and provides greater access to, the institutions, courts and organisations in
The HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
, The Netherlands, working in the field of international peace, justice and security. The Portal was officially launched by Her Royal Highness
Princess Margriet of the NetherlandsPrincess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands , Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, is the third daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands...
in The Hague on 6 April 2006.
The Portal is a gateway to the legal activities taking place in The Hague, a city which, in the words of former
United Nations Secretary-GeneralThe Secretary-General of the United Nations, acronym UNSYG, is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
, Mr.
The
Hague Justice Portal (in French:
'Portail judiciaire de La Haye' ) is a website that promotes, and provides greater access to, the institutions, courts and organisations in
The HagueThe Hague is the third largest city in the Netherlands after Amsterdam and Rotterdam, with a population of 485,818 and an area of approximately 100 km²...
, The Netherlands, working in the field of international peace, justice and security. The Portal was officially launched by Her Royal Highness
Princess Margriet of the NetherlandsPrincess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands , Princess of Orange-Nassau, Princess of Lippe-Biesterfeld, is the third daughter of Queen Juliana of the Netherlands and Prince Bernhard of the Netherlands...
in The Hague on 6 April 2006.
The Portal is a gateway to the legal activities taking place in The Hague, a city which, in the words of former
United Nations Secretary-GeneralThe Secretary-General of the United Nations, acronym UNSYG, is the head of the Secretariat, one of the principal organs of the United Nations. The Secretary-General also acts as the de facto spokesperson and leader of the United Nations....
, Mr.
Kofi AnnanKofi Atta Annan, Honorary GCMG is a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh Secretary-General of the United Nations from 1 January 1997 to 1 January 2007. Annan and the United Nations were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize.-Early years and family:Kofi Annan was born in the...
, "
amply deserves its reputation as the International City of Peace and Justice".
An innovative project created by the
Hague Academic CoalitionThe Hague Academic Coalition is a consortium of academic institutions in the fields of international relations, international law and international development.Its member institutions are:*T.M.C...
, the Portal was officially launched in April 2006. In addition to the core legal institutions in The Hague such as the
International Court of JusticeThe International Court of Justice is the primary judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands...
, the
International Criminal CourtThe International Criminal Court is a permanent tribunal to prosecute individuals for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, and the crime of aggression .The court came into being on 1 July 2002 — the...
and the
International Criminal Tribunal for the former YugoslaviaThe International Tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Serious Violations of International Humanitarian Law Committed in the Territory of the Former Yugoslavia since 1991, more commonly referred to as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia or ICTY, is a...
, the Portal promotes, and provides greater access to, the work and the development of the large number of other international organisations, institutes and research centres based in The Hague, which are relevant to the pursuit of international peace, justice and security.
Sections of the Portal
The Portal itself comprises five main sections: ‘News and Events’, ‘Projects’, ‘Academic Research’, ‘The Hague’ and ‘Portal’.
News and Events: This
news section includes up-to-date information about what happens in the international courts and about their crucial judgments and decisions, issued from official sources and edited by legal experts. The
event calendarannounces legal events, conferences, lectures and speeches taking place in The Hague.
Academic Research: This is the focal point of the Portal where court documents, commentaries, articles, press releases and an important bibliography of books are accessible. The
Hague Justice Journal – Journal Judiciaire de La Haye contains articles and commentaries by expert commentators analysing legal issues, as well as an overview of recent decisions.
Projects: Currently, the Hague Justice Portal has two specific projects. The first one is undertaken in close collaboration with the
Permanent Court of ArbitrationThe Permanent Court of Arbitration , is an international organization based in The Hague in the Netherlands.It was established in 1899 as one of the acts of the first Hague Peace Conference, which makes it the oldest institution for international dispute resolution.The creation of the PCA is set...
(PCA) for the sake of digitalising a number of the
Court’s historic international arbitral awardswhich were previously unavailable in electronic format. The second one is called the
DomCLIC project, which is a pilot for an ever-expanding database of domestic jurisprudence relating to
international criminal lawInternational criminal law is an autonomous branch of law which deals with international crimes and the courts and tribunals set up to adjudicate cases in which persons have incurred international criminal responsibility...
from countries all over the world.
The Hague: This part of the website offers an interesting insight into the city of The Hague. Whether you are a tourist or an expatriate, or consider moving to The Hague, the Portal wishes to guide you in your first steps. Visitors also have access to a
vacancy list of job opportunities in the city, including legal and justice-related employment and internship positions.
Portal: This final section provides information about the
Hague Academic Coalition(HAC) to which the Portal pertains. This consortium of institutions that work in the fields of international relations and international law offers their latest publications and research papers.
Reception by jurists
The Portal has already acquired considerable attention from the community of jurists.
Having historical PCA
arbitrationArbitration, a form of alternative dispute resolution , is a legal technique for the resolution of disputes outside the courts, wherein the parties to a dispute refer it to one or more persons , by whose decision they agree to be bound...
awards on line, freely-accessible and in one place, is helpful to researchers.
Information is also easily available on such important cases as that of
Slobodan MiloševićSlobodan Milošević was President of Serbia and of Yugoslavia...
, Charles G. Taylor, Thomas Lubanga Dyilo and
Vojislav ŠešeljVojislav Šešelj, PhD is a Serbian politician...
.
For the first time, persons around the world will be able to monitor ICC
trialA trial is, in the most general sense, a test, usually a test to see whether something does or does not meet a given standard.It may refer to:*Trial , the presentation of information in a formal setting, usually a court...
s.
Cornell Law SchoolCornell Law School, located in Ithaca, New York, is a graduate school of Cornell University. It is one of the five Ivy League law schools. The school confers three law degrees, hosts an array of programs and institutes, and offers more than 120 courses for its students...
's web site, a well-used web site for legal research, now links to the Portal. The International Justice Tribune, another site for
International lawPublic international law concerns the structure and conduct of sovereign states, analogous entities, such as the Holy See, and intergovernmental organizations. To a lesser degree, international law also may affect multinational corporations and individuals, an impact increasingly evolving beyond...
also links to the Portal. Several scholars so far have used and cited the Portal in their research, one about the
David HicksDavid Matthew Hicks is an Australian who undertook terrorist training in al Qaeda-linked camps and served with the ruling Taliban regime in Afghanistan in 2001. He was then detained by the United States Government in Guantanamo Bay until 2007 when he became the first to be tried and convicted...
case, and another about the
HaririHariri is an Arabic Greater Syrian clan. As a surname, two main branches exist, both originating in Basra. There are variations to the name; while members of either clan branch often opt for simply "Hariri," the written and official form is al al-Hariri which includes a similar compound suffix as a...
Tribunal.