The Hague

The Hague (or Den Haag as the Dutch call it) is admittedly not a typical stop for the average young North American backpacker. It was, however, the location I was most looking forward to on our entire trip.

The Hague is a sort of unofficial world capital for international human rights, a kind of social justice headquarters. It is the location of the United Nations International Court of Justice, which deals with, well, issues of international justice. It is also home to countless similar organizations, governmental, inter-governmental and non-governmental. Most interesting for us was the International Criminal Court (ICC), for which we had to go through a lengthy process before our application to visit was approved.

So, for one aspiring human rights lawyer and one potentially aspiring human rights lawyer, our journey to The Hague was a sort of pilgrimage.

Our visit to the ICC was scheduled for our second day in The Hague so we spent our first day exploring. The Hague is beautiful. We bought a map of a city walking tour, which took us all over. The Hague is an undoubtedly Dutch town with international flare. After the drought of sidewalk cafes I’d experienced in Germany, The Hague was like quenching a long thirst. Adorable little bakeries and cafes were everywhere and most of them offered High Tea, which I heard was because of their close proximity with Britain. The cobble-stoned shopping streets had shops which sold elegant cigars, ancient maps and antique books. Everything was loved and well-cared for. Even the Pizza Hut had chandeliers and elaborate Renaissance-style carved moldings. (While we stood outside laughing in disbelief, a woman on a bicycle wondering what the joke was about stared at us a bit too long, crashed her bike into the curb and fell hard in what looked to me like slow motion. It was hard to help when neither of us spoke a word of each other’s language, so we helplessly stood back while she hollered and her daughter yelled back.)

We wandered along the numerous canals in the mornings as fog blanketed the city. We ate pannekoek for lunch and fries for dinner. We sat on the swings in the gardens of the Queen’s current working Palace. We explored the newly built high rises the Dutch are so proud of but bore us Canadian visitors to tears. We toured the elaborate Parliament buildings and shopped for gifts. We chased pigeons in squares and watched swans float along the canals. We even tried to catch a glimpse of the Prime Minister as an aid held open the door of his office and a black car sat outside waiting.

I loved this city of helpful people, quaint historical shops and international influence. I would love to return in the summer, when the beach, which is a twenty-minute bike ride away, opens for surfing and strolling along the promenade. But a visit in the fall was just as beautiful; fall-coloured trees and foggy canals.

Our second day in town was spent at the ICC. Before sitting in the visitor’s gallery of the court, we got to join in on a tour organized for Master’s of Law students specializing in European Law at the University of Luxembourg (and just declined to mention to anyone that we had barely got our B.A.’s). We got multiple informative sessions lead by ICC staff and met a judge, a feisty blonde middle aged woman from Belgium.

Sitting in the court viewing room was a surreal experience. The court room was small, and held no more than twenty people: prosecution, defense, judges and witness. The man on trial was being tried for multiple war crimes.

The viewing gallery was separated from the court room by a thick pane of glass and held double the amount of individuals as were in the court room. A curtain was drawn in front of the middle pane of glass so as to protect the identity of the witness testifying. The voice of the witness came through our head sets garbled and distorted. The view shown on the TVs (which gave a live stream of various angles of the court) distorted the face beyond recognition. The identity of this witness was completely protected.

The Hague is a quaint little place where big world decisions are being made. I'm so glad we made it there.