Near the Tribunal

Finally, summer

Ironically, on a day that I am inside working, it is the weekend and absolutely gorgeous weather for once in the Hague. It seems as though clouds have been rolling in every Friday evening, just in time to ruin most plans for Saturday beach trips. I even spotted an Italian ice cream cart parked strategically outside of the Museon.

On my bike ride to the court, I passed a family of three that was obviously on their way to a picnic at Scheveningen - nestled into their baskets of food and blankets were also a sandy pail and shovel for the little girl. I was highly jealous.

Laudable article

THE COST OF JUSTICE - IS THE ICC LIVING BEYOND ITS MEANS?

International Criminal Law Bureau

By Dr. Guénaël Mettraux 

06.08.09 - International criminal tribunals have been subjected to much criticism over the years for being too slow and too costly.  Part of the case against them is unfair: justice can hardly be reduced to its financial cost and it requires time to proceed in orderly fashion. Part of the criticism is, however, well justified and various tribunals have, therefore, sought to reduce the cost of their proceedings and taken measures to shorten these proceedings.

Whilst it certainly is not the sole, nor perhaps even the primary, consideration relevant to assessing the work of international criminal tribunals, the financial cost of these tribunals is a factor of relevance in assessing their work and performance.  It is particularly so when donors have to decide between various models for the courts and tribunals that they are setting up (national, international, internationalized, etc).  If local jurisdictions can do the same job at a fraction of the cost, why bother with an international tribunal? It is also relevant because we, taxpayers of the world, are paying for these tribunals and they owe it to us to spend our money as responsibly as they can.  Finally, it might be relevant to evaluating the “quality” of justice that these tribunals are generating: if the money that is spent on these institutions goes into feeding new international bureaucracies rather than paying for the core activities of the judicial institution (investigative, prosecutorial, judicial and defence work), there may be a case to ask for their reform.

Since it was created, the International Criminal Court (ICC) has spent almost half a billion euro.  Considering that only one trial – and a relatively minor one by international standards – has started before the ICC (after about 6 years of existence), this seems – and is – a staggering figure. What is equally staggering is the structure that is put in place around the beating heart of the ICC: its courtroom. With only one trial going on, the ICC now has a budget of 101,000,000€ and the ICC website tells us that as of January 2009, 285 women and 302 men worked for the ICC (i.e., 587 employees).  By comparison, the ICTY has a biennium budget for 2008-2009 of 238,000,000€,  so approximately 120,000,000€/year for over 1,118 employees (see http://www.icty.org/sid/325) with 7 on-going trials, 5 appeals (plus contempt matters) and 3 cases in preparation at the pre-trial stage.  With almost twice the staff and much greater judicial activity, the ICTY is costing almost the same as the ICC.  Despite this, the ICTY has been criticized for being too expensive.  In those circumstances, what should be said of the ICC?

Certainly, running international criminal tribunals costs money.  There comes a point, however, when the gap between what is being achieved judicially and what it costs to the international community should raise some serious concerns among those who foot the bill.  Some indications are quite worrying. Some might be anecdotal (though perhaps telling of a more general problem) whilst others are better characterized as “institutional”.

In the 1-7 August 2009 issue of the magazine the Economist, the ICC purchased a full one-page advertising in the “Executive Focus” section of this magazine.  For what purpose? To advertise two administrative positions that it wishes to fill. Such a page costs 21,000£.  By comparison, the UN Habitat advertised in the same section of the magazine for two – hierarchically superior positions – in a quarter of page. Cost: 5,800£. Will the ICC really attract those bankers and business executives that read these pages of the Economist or should it perhaps have advertised in the cheaper and perhaps more adequate “Appointments” section of the Economist where important organizations such as the European Investment Bank or the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea consider it perfectly adequate and sufficient to advertise in a quarter of a page costing them 4,900£.  Should the ICC advertise at once each and all of the positions hierarchically similar to the ones contained in the Economist advertisement (39 positions – 30 P5 and 9 D1), it would cost ICC member states (and their taxpayers) approximately 400,000£ (or 471,000€) just to advertise these positions in the pages of the Economist. By comparison, the ICTY advertise positions on free websites such as reliefweb, the UN network or its own website (www.icty.org).

It may be that this advertisement is indeed merely anecdotal.  It may also be that the ICC has realized that to succeed it needs genuine managerial competence and that by putting such money up-front, it has increased its chance to attract the sort of people that it needs to revive the institution.  Or it may be that the ICC suffers from institutional egomania? Whatever the answer, it is time for the ICC to promote transparency, not just financial/budgetary, but also in terms of allocations of those resources that are put at its disposal and to focus those resources onto its primary mandate, i.e., to investigate, prosecute and try criminal cases, not to create an inflated bureaucracy.

In that context, the allocations of resources between the various organs of the ICC is, well, intriguing.  Sixty or so per cent of the 2009 budget goes to the Registry (60,222,700€) while the shares of the budget going to Chambers (10,332,100€) and the Office of the Prosecutor (25,528,910€) represent respectively about 10% and 25% of the budget. Together, the judicial and prosecutorial branches of the Court, therefore, cost almost half of what the administration of the Court (which, it should be said, covers the budget of defence teams) cost to the taxpayers of State Parties.

With only one trial to show for, half a billion euros is simply too much money to spend for a tribunal.  21,000£ is just too much to recruit two administrators.  Time perhaps for the Court to reconsider its priorities and to spend our money more wisely.

Sigh...

I am remembering tonight what it was like to work full-time with a very trying personality, as today I had an annoying encounter with someone I work with. It wasn't anything serious, more a moment of wanting to stomp my feet and shriek 'I know I'm right, and I can prove it!' My mother's advice of killing someone with kindness came in handy, as gritting my teeth and being overly accommodating diffused the situation far quicker than my knee-jerk reaction would have. 

I may also be a bit vexed because it has been a hard week - I am struggling to get through the mounds of work that I took on, all in time for the attorneys' return next week. I foresee a working weekend. All is not lost, though! Tomorrow night I will be at a going-away party for Erin and Mati and other interns that I have grown fond of, so I'm sure the stresses of the past week will melt away.

Photos to follow, and keep posting comments! I love to hear from all of you! 

Amazing Airedale!

I usually only see children in these boxes... 

Max would be down for the ride.

Weekend

Flowers are relatively inexpensive here, so I bought my favorite color of hydrangea (about 2.50). I am a little disappointed that I got to Holland after the spring tulips were finished.

As part of my amazing care package, Maggie (the tea maven) included my requested Sleepytime, the smell of which evokes memories of my childhood.

You knew I would post this, Mags

I'm back, baby!

Thanks to a little Dutch Mac shop, my formerly-trusty Mac is back in business and running like a charm. More memory, newer operating system... and cool new wallpapers (which of course is the important thing). The old hard drive has been banished to the deepest recesses of my purse, and I don't have it in me to look at it just yet. 

R.I.P. Mac, and other tales

This weekend, with absolutely no warning or reason, my Mac completely crashed. I came home to find the screen frozen in place, and when I rebooted it was unable to find the hard drive, instead choosing to show me a folder with a blinking question mark. GRACK. Thankfully, I backed everything from law school up right before I left Boston, and apparently iTunes will be able to reinstate my music (only the purchased files, though). My parents and I are working on figuring out how to repair the computer, or what to replace it with, so in the meantime I will be posting from here at work. Photos will be delayed!

Other than that chaos, my weekend was lovely. I spent Friday relaxing and mentally preparing for a dinner at my senior trial attorney's house Saturday night. I managed to bike to his house near the beach in a skirt and heels, all while balancing a bouquet of floppy lisianthus on the handlebars, so I have earned my Dutch stripes. The dinner was very nice, with another attorney from the Tribunal attending with her parents and sister in tow.

Sunday was a fantastic day, as Maggie and her boyfriend Ben were in Den Haag! It was a bit surreal to see familiar Boston faces here in town, and I am so happy that they were able to stop by while touring through Munich and Amsterdam. The entire time that Maggie and I have been friends, I was living in my ridiculous shoebox apartment on Beacon Street, so my lovely flat here with huge windows and a fluffy bed was a happy sight for her as well. We had dinner outside on the Fred, a shopping street near my place, and sat around in the twilight that lasted until nearly 10:00. She brought me an amazing care package, full of things that I miss from the states, which I am still pawing through today.

Little canal by my apartment

Patently ridiculous cars

This Fiat looks like a marshmallow in a microwave.

I mean, who wouldn't want a banana yellow Beemer?!

Wedding weekend in Detmold

I got back into Den Haag late last night after having a wonderful time at the wedding of my friends Nicole and Jens. I stayed with Christian and his lovely girlfriend Rebecca, who showed me around and made me feel so completely welcome. This was the first wedding I had been to in Germany, and while it was pretty much the same affair as in America, the civil ceremony took place earlier in the day in a fantastic old Schloss, with the reception taking place that evening. The party was absolutely fantastic - champagne and beer flowing (Detmolder Pils above!) and a dj that played everything imaginable (I was definitely on the dance floor for Bloc Party). Christian's brother Julian was nice enough to put up with my novice waltz. Nicole was an utterly elegant bride, and somehow managed to look beautiful even at 5 a.m. when the whole thing was finally over.

Nicole + Jens, Standesamt Schloss Brake

The Newly Married Couple

Uppsala Friends

Fantastic Ride for the Bride

Rebecca's Beautiful Shawl

After the Ceremony

Flower Girl Watching Carefully for her Cue

Exchanging Rings

Taking Vows

Kleines Mäuschen

Modern Chandelier in a 1587 Building

Waiting in the Courtyard

Moat around Schloss Brake

Schloss Brake

Rebecca in the Sun

Balcony Overlooking the Schloss Courtyard

Out and about

On Friday afternoon Christian and I headed out into the Teutoburger Wald with his two dogs to get some fresh air and sunshine. I unfortunately forgot to whip my camera out while we were walking through the meadows, but imagine the most serene pastoral landscape in the valley below, walking barefoot through grass sprinkled with wild mint, and gold wheat fields moving slowly in the wind. It was by far the most calming moment I have had in the last few months, and even stomping onto some devilish thistle that made my feet burn and break out in red dots didn't spoil the experience. The bustle of the court and the heavy subject matter seemed light years away, and I missed Laurel, Oregon immensely. 

First night in Bielefeld

Christian and Rebecca recently moved into a gigantic flat that made me green with envy. It has an enormous living room that lets in tons of light, and they were kind enough to let me stay there for three nights. Christian is a rare friend - the kind that can pick right back up from where you last left off without missing a beat. He just recently traveled through Nepal, and brought back a few gifts that nearly brought a tear to my eye. My new little Buddha is sitting proudly on my mantle, and I smile when I think how far it has journeyed to get here. 

Ginny, Rebecca's sweet Irish Setter, who tried to crawl into bed with me a few times

On the train...

Years ago my parents took me on a long distance trip through Germany on the ICE train. We spent the hours looking out the window of our sleeper compartment watching villages blaze past at a cruising speed of at least 125 mph. I was truly happy to have booked first class seats through to Bielefeld on the high-speed train - the seats are comfortable, the cabin is quiet, the steward is happy to bring you a cappuccino and the paper, and no unpleasant turbulence to worry about (http://www.cnn.com/2009/US/08/03/plane.turbulence/index.html?eref=rss_topstories). 

One of the best things about the German rail system is the ability to time a departure down to the second. My train was scheduled to leave Duisburg at 15:10. From my seat I could see the platform clock; when the second hand reached 15:10:00 the train started to move forward. I have to shake my head at the Coast Starlight that I took to college my freshman year. The incredible scenery along the Hood Canal was of no consolation when the departure was more than once three hours behind schedule. Of course this punctuality makes for a stressful approach to the station - I made my train out of Bielefeld with about three minutes to spare.