Press Tour – The Hague celebrates 125 years since the first Peace Conference

From 12-14 June 2024, I had the amazing experience of being part of a press tour here in The Hague. 

Organised by Graziella Guarguaglina (International Media Coordinator) of The Hague and Partners, this truly was an eye-opening and incredibly educational experience. With a group of other journalists from around the world, we had a three day programme that highlighted the rich history of The Hague and its pivotal role in peace and justice.

I’ve learned so much that I’ll be publishing a series of articles over many months, so watch this space! Below I will share an overview of what we did during the press tour.

Wednesday 12 June 2024 

First stop was a very familiar location, as it’s where I already work part time for almost 10 years – The Hague University of Applied Sciences. This is such a large institution though, and today was focussed on the law programme.

Anti-Corruption Court

This morning session was with Maria Groff about environmental justice and her work for an International Anti Corruption Court.

THUAS International Law Moot Court

With the theme of war crimes, students gave us a great insight into the workings of a court case via a Moot Court.

International Law Student Association/Ambassador Team

The next part of the presentation was from all the students present, sharing a little about their studies and why they chose The Hague.

We also enjoyed lunch with them before heading to the next stop…

Peace Palace

The next few hours were spent inside this amazing building. 

ICJ

Firstly we had a presentation and Q&A with the ICJ

PCA

Next up was the PCA

125 year anniversary

Today finished with an amazing event within the Peace Palace. Mayor Jan van Zanen.

I was also happy to get the chance to catch up with Andrew van Esch.

Thursday 13 June 2024

We started today with a walking tour from the Museon. 

International Zone Walking Tour

Martin Born from the Municipality of The Hague.

ICC (International Criminal Court)

Though I’ve of course heard of the ICC , and driven nearby countless times, this was the first time I’d ever been inside.

After this, I went to another event, and the rest of the group went to the Mauritshuis.

Friday 14 June 2024

For our third and final day of this press tour, we started out at Humanity Hub.

Humanity Hub The Hague

We met several NGO’s working in The Hague on Peace and Justice on a daily basis. We did a speed date set up with sessions of 10 minutes with each organisation:

• Cyber Peace Institute
• Mercy Corps
• Cultural Emergency Response
• Commit Global
• International Alert
• Justice & Peace Netherlands 

After this, we walked to the nearby Amare, where a conference was being held, to meet with the UN-OCHA.

UN-OCHA

We learned about the importance of data analysis to prevent Crisis Situations.

Goodbyes & Lunch

We received a lovely gift from a local company, and then ended the tour with lunch at one of my favourite restaurants in The Hague – Little V.

Stories of Purpose

I’ll be sharing my own articles in the coming months, but you can also find some great articles over on Stories of Purpose:

https://storiesofpurpose.thehague.com

An amazing experience

Journalists work incredibly hard behind the scenes to bring you important news and information. We are often behind a screen and don’t always get the opportunity to meet each other face to face. A huge thanks to The Hague and Partners for making it possible to bring together a group of international journalists to not just learn more about The Hague, but have the chance to exchange extremely valuable perspectives about this city and also the world.

I’ve also published this article over on my other website: http://www.dutchaustralian.com