Happy Tuesday

El Niño Beach Bar, fantastic spot

Lovely Paula

Kurhaus

What's left of the bike...

Apparently the spokes acted like a perforation... SO glad this didn't happen when I was cruising down the road.

Sadly...

The back tire of my bike is no more. I knew there was rust on the rim, but didn't appreciate how much. I shamefully was also aware that the back wheel was wobbling during my rides, and still this didn't stop me from scooting all over town. I pumped up the tire after work today, smoothly pushed off of the curb, and heard two bangs in quick succession. The first was my metal rim cracking in two, and the second was the sound of my tire getting punctured and deflating instantly. The noise resembled a gunshot and certainly got the attention of all the motorists lined up at the light - however, I regret to report (much to my father's disappointment) that I did not catch the look on the U.N. guard's face. I'm sure he instinctively reached for his holster. 

And while we're on the subject of the guards, I also VERY stupidly showed up to work today with a butter knife stashed in my bag. I have no plans to take a fellow intern hostage, it was simply left over from my watermelon carving at the beach. Security was none too pleased with me sliding that through the x-ray machine. It's hardly a Bayonet of Death, but it was definitely enough to warrant a reprimand. 

First video post!

Afternoon sunshine

Amarys is a fellow intern that was, fortunately for me, placed in my office though she works on another case. We had a fantastic Sunday evening at Kijkduin beach, sipping white wine and snacking on watermelon, watching happy families lounging on towels. I missed my mother when I saw a cruise ship on the horizon, remembering our trip to Montreal this past May. 

Holland has definitely been a unique experience. There aren't many beaches I can think of where one can see children flinging sand into the air only yards away from a man lighting up a joint. 

Sunday at Kijkduin

Thursday evening

Hello everyone!

Sorry for the lapse in writing. I haven't been feeling 100% this week, and spent yesterday at home with a fever. I'm getting back on my feet, though, and am drinking lots of water (you'd be so proud, Sara). It's a good night to be under the weather, as the sky opened up and dumped rain around 7:00. The Hague was under a high-wind advisory today, which I callously mocked... until I saw a seagull flapping frantically but remaining in place, and it took me twice as long to get home against the headwinds. The higher the wind speeds kick up, the more I feel like Dorothy on my bike. 

This weekend I think it's finally time to hit the Mauritshuis, where the 'Girl with a pearl earring' is housed, along with (of course) plenty of other masterpieces. I may also have dinner at my fave Indonesian place with a new friend that works at the ICTY, so it should be a fun couple of days!

More to come, and thank you for the sweet emails! I miss you all! 

Spotted:

Elderly gentleman, on his bicycle, neatly clipped white hair and tweed jacket... smoking a cigar as he pedaled. 

ICTY

New office

I really have no complaints about the view from my new office - I don't look out at the Peace Palace anymore, but this is still a nice, somewhat quaint angle. 

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!