Zwarte Piet

I arrived back in The Hague on Friday morning. I was away for just under two weeks, but it felt like two months in “Hague time,” a strangely accelerated reality like Narnia. Upon returning, I was not only greeted by a group of friends, but also by parade of men in blackface dressed up in colorful troubadour-like costumes.

Yes, it was exactly as strange as it sounds. But then I remembered reading something in former Fellow Jared’s journal from last year about this strange Dutch holiday tradition. In order to better understand its meaning and history, I did a little research on the internet and talked to some of my Dutch friends. There were even some heated debates over the weekend about the racist connotations of blackface and its influence on race relations in the Netherlands. In the end though, I found myself shelving the academic debate and just enjoying the festive mood of this unique celebration.

On the banks of the Danube

Yesterday was the last day of the 40-hour mediation training. Despite the challenges of translation and the judges’ busy schedules (several of them couldn’t commit to the entire 40-hours and had to come in and out), I think it went very well. In our evaluation and group debrief, they all expressed surprise and delight at how much they had learned and progressed in the short time of the training. However, for most, this was just an introductory training and I am aware of how important it is to keep these skills up. Hopefully, despite USAID leaving Croatia, there will be a way to continue training and expand mediation training across this aspiring European nation.

Rebecca and Gaby left early this morning but Ericka and I have a couple of days left in Croatia. Thanks to this extra time, Ericka and the US Embassy team were able to organize another short mediation training session, this time in Vukovar. We drove from Zagreb to Vukovar this afternoon, a short 3 hour trip across to country to the border with Serbia.

Situated on the banks of the Danube, Vukovar is a fascinating city. Hotly contested during the war with Serbia, it was essentially razed by continuous bombardment. However, unlike Dubrovnik, which experienced similar destruction, most of Vukovar has not yet been rebuilt. The scars of the war are visible on every street. Bullet holes pockmark facades. Chunks of the sidewalk are missing where mortars landed. Buildings are empty hollow shells, no windows, no doors, no roofs. Minefields still surround part of the city.

But the scars are beginning to fade. New investment is pouring in and the minefields are being cleared. Next to bombed out old buildings stand modern sleek shopping centers, hotels, a contemporary courthouse, and a new judges club. It was in this clubhouse that Ericka gave a brief presentation this evening. The judges here were just as eager to learn about mediation as the judges in Zagreb. Having experienced the worst of the war, they are all too aware of the importance of introducing a new culture of dispute resolution in Croatia.

Escape to the Dalmatian Coast

This weekend offered us a much-needed break from the hectic mediation training schedule. Rebecca, Ericka, Gaby and I decided to escape dreary, grey, and cold Zagreb and go explore the famed Dalmatian coastline. On Saturday, Gaby and Ericka rented a car and we drove across the Southern Alps over to Split. Appropriately enough, we parted ways there, and Rebecca and I continued on our journey south to Dubrovnik. We had some time before our flight so we explored the historic old centre of Split, where Diocletian, one of the late Roman emperors, built his retirement palace. In the middle of the palace ruins, stands the Split cathedral, the tower of which Rebecca and I decided to climb. About halfway up the 180-step ascent, my vertigo kicked in but Rebecca pushed me onwards and upwards and I made it to the top. The view over the harbor and city were magnificent, particularly since it was nearly sunset.

We arrived in Dubrovnik in the late evening but managed to muster up the energy to walk around the fortified town centre. The town was heavily bombarded during the war with Serbia, but since independence, it has been beautifully restored. In fact, it was so well-lit and clean that it felt a little bit like a Disney version of a fortified medieval city. Even in the low season, the town felt busy and many shops were open late to accommodate the many American and Japanese tour groups.

The next morning, Rebecca and I embarked on the long 2km walk around the ramparts. The views over the sea were spectacular and we left Dubrovnik reluctantly at the end of the afternoon:

Zagreb

The training today was exhausting. We were in the same conference room in the court for nearly eight hours, under the harsh fluorescent lights. But it was very interesting. Most of the time, I was just watching and listening to Ericka and Gaby teach. It a useful refresher in mediation skills and I even brushed up on my facilitation skills—and not only as a spectator! Ericka and Gaby asked me introduce one of the mediation exercises so I was able to participate in the training as a facilitator, even if it was just for a few minutes. The added challenge of the simultaneous translation forced me to slow down, which was very useful since one of my flaws as a facilitator is my tendency to speak too quickly.

This evening, after a full day of training, I bought a small paper cone of hot roasted chestnuts and took a long walk around Zagreb. I strolled along the cobblestone streets without a map, just guided by my curiosity and desire to experience the city. I came upon a path leading uphill and decided to follow it. After a steep climb, I stumbled upon the historic centre of Zagreb. Perched on a hill, old Zagreb offered striking views over the new part of the city. From this perspective, the city looked sprawling but still somehow quaint, despite the ugly billboards and austere Soviet architecture that dominated parts of downtown.

Mediation Training in Croatia

Having spent the past month feeling rather distant from the Insight staff in Boston, it is fortuitous timing that I should now find myself in Croatia assisting on a mediation training program. This opportunity came up during the summer thanks to Ericka Gray, who trained us in facilitation and mediation. She and Gabrielle Gropman, the former administrator of the Harvard Mediation Program, are working together with USAID and World Learning to train Croatian judges in mediation—a dispute resolution practice that is newly being introduced to the Croatian judiciary system.

Ericka brought up the possibility of the Fellows joining her as assistants during this training in Croatia and it all came together about a month ago. I arrived last night and met Rebecca at the hotel (Seisei unfortunately couldn't make it up from Kenya). We hadn't seen each other in two months and it was great to chat and catch up.

The main challenge we faced today was dealing with the simultaneous translation. Since most of the judges speak only a little English, we all wear headsets and have to deal with lags in translation, issues with the equipment, and remembering to speak very slowly to allow the translators enough time to keep up. Hopefully this won’t be too much of an impediment to the success of the training as a whole.

This morning we were up bright and early for a preparatory breakfast meeting with Ericka and Gaby, whom I was meeting in person for the first time. As we walked over to the Commercial Court building down the street, I was a bit nervous, and then I was really nervous when we arrived and we greeted by a group of 25 senior judges. But they were terribly warm and welcoming, and very excited about the training which got off to a great start. Rebecca and I mainly just assisted Ericka and Gaby—though our acting ‘skills’ were called upon for several short mediation demonstrations.

Closing In

First get your man. All the efforts to deter tyrants, warlords and genocidal murderers by setting up international tribunals will come to nothing if the suspects cannot be arrested. Without any form of enforcement mechanism of their own, most of the new courts have always known this. Yet slowly, if not surely, they are pulling in the suspects.

Germain Katanga, also known as “Simba”, is the latest catch. The alleged leader of the Patriotic Resistance Force in the north-eastern Congolese province of Ituri has been arrested and transferred to the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague. He is only the second person to be handed over to the world's first permanent war-crimes court since it was set up in 2002. Thomas Lubanga Dyilo, another Congolese presumed to be a warlord, has been in the court's custody since March 2006. He was already in prison in Kinshasa, Congo's capital, when charged.

Of the seven others indicted by the ICC, four leaders of the Lord's Resistance Army, a rebel group in northern Uganda, are still on the run two years after warrants were issued for their arrest; a fifth has been killed. And the two other suspects, a Sudanese minister and a janjaweed leader, are unlikely to be caught soon, given Sudan's refusal even to recognise the court.

But Charles Taylor's impending war-crimes trial should have put the wind up a few despots. After three years of comfortable exile in Nigeria, the former Liberian president was handed over to a UN-backed Special Court last year. His trial is due to start in The Hague on January 7th.

Much has been made of the failure of the international war-crimes tribunal for ex-Yugoslavia to catch two Bosnian Serb leaders, Ratko Mladic and Radovan Karadzic. Both have been on the run for 12 years. Less has been said about the court's success in arresting all but four of the 161 men it has indicted. The Rwandan tribunal's record is only slightly less impressive. Of its 90 indicted suspects, just 14 are at large. One was caught in France last week, another in Germany last month, and the search continues for the rest.

Meanwhile, ordinary courts are showing less indulgence towards the high and mighty. Last month Chile's Supreme Court ordered the extradition to Peru of Alberto Fujimori, a former president of Peru, on charges of corruption and human-rights abuse. In Uruguay a federal appeals court confirmed charges of multiple murder against Juan María Bordaberry, the country's former president. An American court ordered the extradition of Manuel Noriega, Panama's ex-dictator, to France to serve a ten-year sentence for money-laundering. And Nuon Chea, “Brother Number 2” of the brutal Khmer Rouge regime in Cambodia in the 1970s, was arrested and handed over to the new UN-backed war-crimes tribunal in the country's capital, Phnom Penh. The noose tightens.

London (The Economist, 25 October)

Accused #2

A surprise in the office last week: the Prosecutor issued an indictment against Germain Katanga, a Congolese militia leader. He was handed over to ICC authorities last week and had his first appearance at the Court today. Somehow, I managed to negotiate a front-row seat for the hearing. It was packed with media representatives and Court staff, all eager to see our second accused in the flesh. It all felt a bit circus-like, this diminutive young man in the courtroom fishbowl. Part of me felt badly for him… He is only 27 years old and has never even met his second child, who was born while he was imprisoned in the Democratic Republic of Congo. However, once the presiding judge started reading the list of charges against him, most of my pity dissolved. He is accused of forcibly enlisting child soldiers, of kidnapping young women and girls as sexual slaves, as well as several other war crimes and crimes against humanity. As I listened to some of the details of the charges, I could not help but think back to my experiences in East and Central Africa, meeting former child soldiers in Uganda, visiting a war-torn town in Eastern Congo, hearing witness testimony at the ICTR… While man’s inhumanity to man remains shocking and disheartening, the dedication and perseverance that I have witnessed here at the Court can only bring optimism.

Feeling distant...

Thanks to Eid El-Fitr, the end of Ramadan, the Court enjoyed a long weekend break. I decided to do a bit of travelling and took the train from Amsterdam to Paris. The view along the tracks was scenic, and the three-hour ride gave me the opportunity to reflect on my time thus far in The Hague. At this point, I am struggling a bit on the professional level. The time and distance from Boston has separated me from the concepts and skills learned over the summer, and I am finding it hard to link this placement to that experience. At times, I find myself thinking that, while I am ultimately very grateful for this opportunity at the ICC, this placement does not feel like it fits into the vision of the Fellowship program. There is no defined role for us as Fellows at the Court—I have no supervisor or tasks, so it is up to me to figure out how to maximize this experience. It has not been made easier by the Prosecutor’s extremely busy schedule, which has caused his office to cancel my appointments with him. Without his guidance and due to the distance from Insight, I feel a bit abandoned. However, I suppose that this is part of the challenge of this placement—a sentiment echoed by previous Fellows in my conversations with them. While I am having difficulties, it has strengthened my ties with them and this connection helps reinforce my purpose and motivation to make the best of the situation.

And the winner is...

Bike-naming competition entries in order received:

• Donor-Cycle (from my pediatrician uncle who is worried about lack of helmets)
  
• Miss Gulch (from the Wizard of Oz)
  
• Zelda
• Gertrude
• Fritz
• WinBell (Insight reference)
  
• Gretel
• Daisy Bell
• The CTFW (The Charles Taylor Freedom Wheels)
  
• Operation Hot Mother
• Tracy Morgan's Manatee (if you don't get the reference, watch this clip)
  
• Flavor of the Week
• Jiska
• Azura (Eve's daughter)
  
• Tinkerbell
• Sally Spins
• Nina
• Wilhelmina (my street here)
  
• Mini-Eve
• Den Byke
• Toto (little dog from the Wizard of Oz)
  

And the winner is: Miss Gulch

The main reasons behind this choice are:

1. There is a Wizard of Oz theme for naming vehicles in my family (my car's name is Dorothy etc), but the person who submitted this entry did not known about that, so clearly it was destiny;
2. Miss Gulch is the evil woman from the Wizard of Oz who wants to have Toto put down. During the Oz dream sequence, she turns into the Wicked Witch of the West character; and
3. On Friday morning, my bike went evil on me and bucked me off right in front of the Court... Nothing too serious, just a bashed up knee and some bruised dignity. Thank god it was 8:45am so no one was around yet to witness my klutziness (international justice sleeps in late on Fridays). Anyway, the name is perfect for such an occasion: as suggested by the submitter, "Miss Gulch went all Wicked Witch of the West on me."

Little Pieces of History in the Making

Today we had a 12th Floor meeting. The purpose was mainly to introduce new staff and inter. While most interns started work several weeks before my arrival, this was the first time everyone on the floor has an opportunity to meet. I was able get a sense of what they are all working on, which ranges from public information to legal research, as well as introduce myself and talk a bit about the Fellowship program.

Actually the most interesting was to find out where everyone is from; there are over 25 nationalities (and all inhabited continents) represented! In my large corner office alone, there are 8 distinct nationalities. It is always nice to work in such an international context, with people from such varied backgrounds and experiences. Particularly given my international and multilingual upbringing, it is refreshing to be back in what feels like a more familiar setting.

In addition, today I met the Chief Prosecutor for the first time. While it was a brief introduction— he peeked into the room just to say hello between meetings—it was nice to finally meet in person someone I have heard so much about.

This week the office is abuzz with activity as we are all helping to prepare a very unique meeting for the end of the week. It is a sort of unofficial get-together for representatives from the prosecution teams of each international tribunal, the ICTR, ICTY, SCSL, and ECCC. The three-day workshop will facilitate a discussion about best practices in prosecution with the end product being an outline of a manual. The manual will be put together by ICC staff and then brought to the official summit that will be held in Cambodia next month.

The best practices manual is a legacy project for the ad-hoc tribunals, most of which will be winding down operations and eventually closing within the next couple of years. The topics range from speeding up trials, to managing victim participation, to conducting efficient investigations. In a way, it is a chance to record the small pearls of wisdom gleaned from 10-15 years of prosecutorial experience so that it can be passed on to the new permanent Court.Even though I will only be assisting in an administrative capacity during the workshop, I look forward to sitting in on these discussions. In a way, so much of working here is just being a witness to little pieces of history in the making.