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 Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

The Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

, working in the field of international peace, justice and security. The Portal was officially launched by Her Royal Highness

Princess Margriet of the Netherlands Princess Margriet Francisca of the Netherlands (born 19 January 1943) is the third daughter of Queen Juliana and Prince Bernhard. As an aunt of the reigning monarch, King Willem-Alexander, she is a member of the Dutch Royal House and curren ...

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-General The secretary-general of the United Nations (UNSG or SG) is the chief administrative officer of the United Nations and head of the United Nations Secretariat, one of the six principal organs of the United Nations. The role of the secretary-g ...

, Mr.

Kofi Annan Kofi Atta Annan (; 8 April 193818 August 2018) was a Ghanaian diplomat who served as the seventh secretary-general of the United Nations from 1997 to 2006. Annan and the UN were the co-recipients of the 2001 Nobel Peace Prize. He was the founde ...

, "''amply deserves its reputation as the International City of Peace and Justice''". An innovative project created by the

Hague Academic Coalition The Hague Academic Coalition (HAC) is a consortium of academic institutions in the fields of international relations, international law and international development. Members and Organization The member institutions are: * Carnegie Foundation *The ...

, the Portal was officially launched in April 2006. In addition to the core legal institutions in The Hague such as the

International Court of Justice The International Court of Justice (ICJ; french: Cour internationale de justice, links=no; ), sometimes known as the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It settles disputes between states in accordanc ...

, the

International Criminal Court The International Criminal Court (ICC or ICCt) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal seated in The Hague, Netherlands. It is the first and only permanent international court with jurisdiction to prosecute individuals f ...

and the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, 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. The management of the Portal was transferred to a committee led by Philipp Amann on the 1st of March 2014 and a new stream-lined version of the website was created. The new committee are based in The Hague and have a strong vision for the future of the site.

Sections of the Portal

The Portal itself comprises five main sections: ‘News and Events’, ‘Projects’, ‘Academic Research’, ‘The Hague’ and ‘Portal’. ''News and Events'': Thi
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. Th

announces 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. Th

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 Arbitration The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is a non-UN intergovernmental organization located in The Hague, Netherlands. Unlike a judicial court in the traditional sense, the PCA provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that aris ...

(PCA) for the sake of digitalising a number of th
Court’s historic international arbitral awards
which were previously unavailable in electronic format. The second one is called th

which is a pilot for an ever-expanding database of domestic jurisprudence relating to

international criminal law International criminal law (ICL) is a body of public international law designed to prohibit certain categories of conduct commonly viewed as serious atrocities and to make perpetrators of such conduct criminally accountable for their perpetrat ...

from countries all over the world. In April 2014, Colette O'Donovan agreed to lead a new project. The Hague Justice Gender Project will focus on raising awareness of issues and events specifically relating to gender in international law. ''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
vacancy list
of job opportunities in the city, including legal and justice-related employment and internship positions. ''Portal'': This final section provides information about th

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 arbitration 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 Milošević, Charles G. Taylor,

Thomas Lubanga Dyilo Thomas Lubanga Dyilo (born 29 December 1960) is a convicted war criminal from the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC) and the first person ever convicted by the International Criminal Court (ICC). He founded and led the Union of Congolese P ...

and

Vojislav Šešelj Vojislav Šešelj ( sr-Cyrl, Војислав Шешељ, ; born 11 October 1954) is a Serbian politician, founder and president of the far-right Serbian Radical Party (SRS); he was convicted of war crimes by the International Criminal Tribunal ...

. For the first time, persons around the world will be able to monitor ICC

trial In law, a trial is a coming together of parties to a dispute, to present information (in the form of evidence) in a tribunal, a formal setting with the authority to adjudicate claims or disputes. One form of tribunal is a court. The tribunal ...

s. Cornell Law School's web site, a well-used web site for legal research, now links to the Portal. The International Justice Tribune, another site for

International law International law (also known as public international law and the law of nations) is the set of rules, norms, and standards generally recognized as binding between states. It establishes normative guidelines and a common conceptual framework for ...

also links to the Portal. Several scholars so far have used and cited the Portal in their research, one about the

David Hicks David Matthew Hicks (born 7 August 1975) is an Australian who attended al-Qaeda's Al Farouq training camp in Afghanistan, and met with Osama bin Laden during 2001. He was then detained by the United States in Guantanamo Bay detention camp fro ...

case, and another about the Hariri Tribunal.Leiden University blog
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References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hague Justice Portal Legal websites International Court of Justice Dutch websites International law Organisations based in The Hague Organizations established in 2006