Professor Kalshoven started his career in international law by teaching  law of the sea, and more specifically the laws of war at sea to the naval cadets at the Royal Naval Academy in Den Helder.  The subject of warfare at sea within the general laws of war sparked his interest early on which led him to write a Phd on Belligerent Reprisals at the instigation of M.W. Mouton.  During the Second World War, Dr. Mouton served as a senior advisor on international law issues to Dutch Prime Minister P.S. Gerbrandy. After the war ended Dr. Mouton became the Dutch representative at the United Nations War Crimes Commission .

“Dr. Mouton explained to me that if you’d like to research the issue of belligerent reprisals, it will take you through most of the aspects of the laws of war”, Professor Kalshoven said.  This turned out to be true;  it took me 7 years to complete my Phd. “ The difficulty lies in finding evidence”, Professor Kalshoven continues”. “It was great to write about the concept, but it was a theory that had to be supported by facts and these facts were very difficult to find. My research was focused on the Second World War and the bombardments that were carried out by all parties involved. I had to find out whether legal thought preceded the execution of these attacks. The Peace Palace Library was extremely instrumental as I was able to find many English newspapers and all sorts of necessary materials, said Professor Kalshoven. In the end my thesis (1971) turned out to be a valuable document with a reprint in 2005”.

During his research for his thesis he became interested in the Red Cross and the role the International Committee had played in the development of the laws of war. “It was the time of freedom fighters, guerilla warfare and wars of liberation, particularly in Africa”, said Professor Kalshoven. The Red Cross was finding ways to properly deal with these new events and the legal aspects of these phenomena. He decided to contact the Dutch Red Cross for permission to attend meetings in Geneva in order to consult their documents on these issues. He was allowed access and gradually became an expert in international humanitarian law and eventually the Red Cross Advisor to the board of the Netherlands Red Cross and their representative to meetings of the Red Cross/ Red Crescent movement.

Professor Kalshoven stressed that one of the great difficulties of international humanitarian law was and still is to differentiate between freedom fighters and rebels as well as the difference  between military strategy and civilian options. “For instance,  the current situation in Syria is far from clear”, Professor Kalshoven said. “Is this an armed conflict or not? The opponents are too divided to be recognized as a party. There are violations of human rights calling for the application for the laws of war. Certain rules of the laws of war are definitely applicable ”.  “When the Red Cross was founded such matters were a main area of interest and the IRC played an important role in the humanitarianization of war”, Professor Kalshoven said.

In 2002, Professor Kalshoven received the Henri Dunant Medal, the highest distinction of the international Red Cross and Red Crescent Movement  for his significant contributions to the development of international humanitarian law. He emphasized that this was a special moment in his career.

“I saw a change throughout my time there, from 1971-1993”, Professor Kalshoven noted”. “In the first place they have become a much bigger organization, they work with more efficiency than they did before. They have a legal team of experts who adhere to doctrines, consider themselves infallible and don’t like to be contradicted. Fortunately, this applies not to everyone off course”.

Another highlight of his career was his involvement in the establishment of the International Criminal Tribunal of the former Yugoslavia (ICTY). In October  1992, the UN Security Council decided to establish a special commission of experts to examine and analyse information regarding the grave breaches of the Geneva Conventions and other violations of international humanitarian law committed in the territory of the former Yugoslavia. On 26 October 1992, UN Secretary-General Boutros Boutros-Ghali appointed a five-member commission, chaired by Professor Kalshoven and, following the latter’s resignation, by Professor Cherif Bassiouni. One of the crimes that the commission was confronted with were cases of mass rape of women during the war. He explained that this was the very first time that this was considered a crime against humanity.

A few years ago, professor Kalshoven retired. However he is still involved in contributing publications in the field of international humanitarian law. Occasionally, he serves as a thesis adviser to students who conduct research on international humanitarian law issues.

“The Academy Building also houses Permanent Court of Arbitration staff members working in cooperation with the International Council for Commercial Arbitration (ICCA). ICCA is a worldwide non-governmental organisation that celebrated its 50th Anniversary in 2011, and is dedicated to promoting and developing arbitration, conciliation and other forms of dispute resolution.

ICCA is known both for its biennial arbitration conferences — known as the “Olympic Games of the arbitration community” — and its publications in the field of arbitration. The Yearbook Commercial Arbitration publishes court decisions on the application of key arbitration conventions (such as the 1958 New York Convention), the International Handbook on Commercial Arbitration is a five-volume compendium of legislation and commentary from over seventy jurisdictions, and the ICCA Congress Series publishes the papers from each congress. PCA-ICCA staff regularly consult the Peace Palace Library in developing their publications.

ICCA’s 2011 Guide to the Interpretation of the 1958 New York Convention is intended for use by judges and scholars and is part of ICCA’s outreach training sessions for judges, the first of which took place in Brazil in March, and the second of which will target Southern African judges in Mauritius in May. Now available in English and Portuguese and freely downloadable from the ICCA website (www.arbitration-icca.org), multiple translations are envisaged.

The newly-launched grouping, Young ICCA, offers training, mentoring and networking for young practitioners and students.”

We wonder if it is useful to -sometimes- present a small part of some of these e-articles, e.g. just the introduction or conclusion. To test this, we created two PDF-files each containing just a small portion of two different articles. Both articles appear in the bibliographic section of the above mentioned research guide:

BATES, C., “U.S. Ratification of the U.N. Convention on the Law of the Sea : Passive Acceptance is Not Enough to Protect U.S. Property Interests”, 31 North Carolina Journal of International Law and Commercial Regulation (2006) 3, pp. 745-792 [just the conclusion]
HENRIKSEN, T. and G. ULFSTEIN, “Maritime Delimitation in the Arctic : the Barents Sea Treaty”, 42 Ocean Development and International Law (2011) 1, pp. 1-21 [just the introduction]

Please comment on this.

Read more about this documentary and the Award-winning film makers relentless efforts for justice in Congo.

In Justice for Sale we meet Claudine, a young and courageous human rights lawyer who investigates the case of Masamba, a soldier who is convicted of rape. She discovers that he was imprisoned without any credible evidence. In Claudine’s quest to obtain justice she uncovers a legal system in which human rights principles such as the right to a fair trial and due process are breached. The documentary reveals how ‘perpetrators’ become victims due to an inadequate criminal justice system.

After the screening, Ms. Ilse van Velzen kindly answered some questions during the Q & A session.

Here follows a small part of the discussion

How is Masamba, the main character of your documentary, doing now and are you checking up on him?

We do bring all of our films back to the Congo to share it with the public over there and this gives us an opportunity to check up on Masamba. We have been doing that weekly since we have a local friend who has been working with us for the last seven years. He has been bringing food to Masamba every week because without this he will not get enough food inside the prison. The government does provide food to prisoners but a lot of times it is not enough.

Do you support him financially?

We just support him with food as an extra supplement. He will normally only get a cup of rice or beans and will then have to beg with the other inmates. Normally, inmates get extra food from family or friends who visit them in prison. Masamba is imprisoned in a city where he doesn’t know anyone. Nobody is bringing him extra food or taking care of him or even visits him. This can also be dangerous because when no one knows you’re there they can easily make you disappear. So it is quite important that someone checks up on him regularly. And for Masamba, it is really important that he has someone who he can consider his friend. We decided that we are not going to visit the prison ourselves because this might put Masamba at risk. When we as filmmakers from a Western country visit the prison, it can create animosity among the prisoners as many might feel that Masamba is getting all this attention. This is a situation we obviously want to avoid at all costs.

Can Masamba appeal his case?

We are trying to fundraise money from people who have seen the film and as a result are willing to donate money.  Also, a Dutch refugee organization (Stichting Vluchtelingenwerk), Cordaid and the Dutch Lottery helped us out. We have a budget now. Last month we screened the film and spoke to different lawyers in the Eastern part of the Congo as well as in Kinshasa to review the case and to represent Masamba at the Highest court in the Congo. This is the only way to get a Higher Appeal. This will happen, but of course it still is uncertain that he will be released based on the evidence, but things do look well. The Ministry of Justice has seen the film and the highest judge from the military court has seen the film and they all took notice that great errors have been made during the legal procedure. He should never have been convicted. Based on the new evidence that will be presented, I believe the chances are high that he will be released. For him, the situation in prison is still miserable as the prison conditions are a struggle every day. We hope that he can hang in there and that he will be released.

Because in Congo, a ten year prison sentence is almost equal to a death sentence?

Absolutely.

Is his case an exception or is this a structural failure of the criminal justice system in the Congo?

In 2008, we filmed a Military court case where ten different soldiers were on trial for different crimes including rape. We filmed all of these trials. Back then, Masamba’s case only drew local attention.  After filming, we were convinced that there was no evidence to convict him. When he was convicted and sentenced to ten years in prison we were flabbergasted. And at that point, we went back to the Netherlands and made a rough cut of the film. Afterwards, we decided to return to the Congo and we showed the film to lawyers and human rights organizations as well as different NGO’s working in the legal field and asked their opinion. To our surprise, we found out that this happened often and that this was not a one of a kind case. When we found out about this, we knew that we had to make a film on this particular case even though many organizations, especially Western organizations, advised against it. In their minds, it would have been better to make a film focusing on the rights of the victims instead who struggle to get perpetrators convicted in the courts.  We were told that when you make a film about wrongly accused convicts it would only endanger the fight against sexual violence. But to us, this is not the discussion. In our opinion, it is important that organizations and NGO’s that take over criminal legal procedures do this in accordance with legal principles. People should only be convicted when there is enough evidence.

Is your film really a conviction of NGO’s then who give a great deal of support and then things go wrong?

Not really. Our film is about injustice. After doing more and more research, we do find it very important to highlight in a subtle way these issues. NGO’s do a lot of great work but we want to start up the discussion with them as well as with other international organizations in the Congo who interfere in the criminal justice system but fail to carry out these legal procedures in a right manner. NGO’s organize mobile courts where they bring in rape cases in which they give all legal assistance to victims but not to the accused who as a result don’t stand a chance for a fair trial. In this way, they are unable to properly prepare their case because they simply don’t have the means to do so. This ultimately leads to a very imbalanced legal system. By making this film, we’re trying to get them to not only focus on the victims but equally on the perpetrators.

The first question was discussed during the Lecture and was included in the booklet with the entire program of the Lecture. The second and third question were answered by Judge Bach during the reception that took place after the lecture.

What do you remember from the first time you met Adolf Eichmann?

Two days after Eichmann was brought to Israel, the Minister of Justice called me, and asked me whether I would be prepared to be the legal adviser of the Police Bureau that carried out the investigation. I was then the Deputy State Attorney of Israel. I agreed. Until then, I had already carried out quite a number of prosecutions against very well known criminals and I also knew German, so it was that I would become one of the prosecutors.

The Israeli government declared that it would be responsible for all the defense expenses and allow Eichmann to choose whichever lawyer he wanted from anywhere in the world. Dr. Robert Servatius, one of the leading defense counselors at the Nuremberg trials, was brought first at the request of Eichmann´s family and also by Eichmann himself. But until he arrived, I was the contact had with the outside world and I let him know if he had some technical issues he wanted to discuss or formal matters he could come to me. But, I let him know from the start that I was not prepared to talk to him about the alleged offenses with which he was charged because then I would have to be a witness, and I had known already that I would be one of the prosecutors.

The Israeli government vacated an entire prison for Eichmann, right of Haifa (Iar Prison’). The prison was inhabited only by Eichmann and 30 or 40 police officers who handled him. There I had my office. For nine months I lived there. At night I was in a hotel in Haifa and in the morning I was taken to this prison and was actually next to Eichmann all the time. During this period, I was his only contact to the outside world until his lawyers arrived.

At first I didn´t see Eichmann. One day, I was reading the biography of Rudolf Höss, the commander of Auschwitz. He was hanged in Poland in 1948, twelve years before Eichmann was caught, and before he was executed, he wrote his biographical notes, his autobiography. There he described how they many days where they killed about 1,000 Jewish children a day and he described how the children used to kneel down to be saved…..He wrote that when he and his colleagues had to push the children into the gas chambers , his knees would were getting a bit wobbly sometimes. But then, he added: I’ve always felt ashamed of this weakness of mine, after I talked with SS-Obersturmbannführer Adolf Eichmann, because Eichmann explained to me that it is especially the children that need to be killed first, because he says: ‘where is the logic that you kill a generation of older people and leave alive the generation of possible avengers, who can afterward create that race again?’. Now, maybe there is some kind of macabre logic in that but ten minutes after I read that, a policeman came in and said ´Eichmann wants to see you´.

The moments I heard his steps outside after I read that…..I remembered how I, as a child, escaped from Germany. That was the moment I realized, how easily It could have been the other way around, that me and my family-could have been brought before these SS men. When he came ten minutes after I´d read the biography of Rudolf Höss it was a bit difficult to keep a poker face.

Judge Bach, The Lecture was attended by over 200 people. Are you surprised that so many people came to the lecture? Why do you think this is?

It is surprising that there is so much interest. Fifty years have passed since the Eichmann trial, the interest from all over the world rose from year to year. It happens to be that the Holocaust was mentioned in many other trials, like for instance the Nuremberg Trials, but, it was always only marginal. Only part of it. The only trial that really deals with all the aspects of what happened there was the Eichmann trial. All the legal questions, the emotional and human aspects, all the ethical questions, all that really rose in the Eichmann trial. Because of that, the interest rose from year to year and still rises to this day.

I’ve just returned from Belgium where the President of the European Parliament asked me to speak together with him at the International Holocaust Remembrance day. Two weeks ago, the Prime Minister from Austria, invited me to come to Vienna. Before that I was in Los Angeles to accept what is called the Lemkin-Award. Raphael Lemkin was an expert in International Law . He created the word Genocide. When he died he had become a great expert in International Law. In 2011, The Loyola Law School’s Center for the Study of Law & Genocide decided that they will give a Lemkin-Award to someone who has contributed to the understanding of Genocide and they gave it to me. I was invited to Los Angeles and 300 people came to the event.

In Japan, they opened up a special museum for which they brought flowers from The Netherlands, from the home of Anne Frank that were planted in the garden of the museum. They asked me to plant a tree in my name next to the flowers of Anne Frank. And there is interest in Australia and New-Zealand as well. And then, there’s interest especially in Germany. In Germany they have now decided that in every province where there is a Parliament, they will devote a whole day every year to commemorate the Holocaust and they asked me to come. What is particularly important, in Germany, is that they wanted me to speak to young children. Last year they asked me to meet with 400 schoolchildren. They told me that they wanted the young people to know things like this can never happen again. I mean, in a way, I can understand it, but sometimes it is surprising that after fifty years the interest is still growing.

How important do you think Libraries are in spreading the word in international criminal law and human rights violations?

I’m not a great expert on that but I think that Libraries are very important. After all, there you can find information that you cannot find in newspapers. They provide proper foundations for information to the public.

The Bodleian Law library is a modern building with an excellent collection, sufficiently equipped to offer the students a place to study.

The Codrington Library of All Souls College was founded in the late seventeenth century through a bequest by Christopher Codrington. The collection is focused on law, history, philosophy.

A quick look at the catalogue reveals works of Grotius, Gentili and many other famous scholars.

All Souls College has a long tradition in international law. Regius Professor Alberico Gentili (Italian born jurist (1552-1608) and Robert Zouche (1590-1661) taught international law. The Chichele Chair in International law and Diplomacy was founded in  1859 and was held by many distinguished professors, such as: James Leslie Brierly (192-1947), Sir Humphrey Waldock (1947)  ,  D.P.O’Connell (1972-1979), Ian Brownlie (1980-1999) and Vaughan Lowe.

The Bodleian holds a copy of Grotius’ De Iure belli ac pacis, Paris 1625 (TMD 565, I). The PPL Librarians were allowed a quick research of twenty minutes to compare this copy with their copy. Both are originals. Further comparative investigation is needed.

The Peace Palace Library, in cooperation with the Embassy of Israel, organizes a lecture by Judge Gabriel Bach, Former Vice-President of the Israeli Supreme Court, about “50 Years since the Eichmann trial-Memories“;

Opening Remarks by H.E. Judge Theodor Meron, President of The International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and President of the International Residual Mechanisms for Criminal Tribunals.

The programme for the evening will be as follows:

• 17:00 Doors open and coffee;
• 18:00 Opening remarks by Judge Theodor Meron;
• 18:15 Lecture by Judge Gabriel Bach;
• 19:10 Q&A;
• 19:30- 20.00 Reception.

Please check the online catalogue of the Peace Palace Library for the most recent titles dealing with Eichmann and the Research Guide on World War II

We wish to remind you that you are required to bring a valid ID (passport, driving license). Without ID, you will not be able to access the Peace Palace. We kindly refer you to the PDF file, containing more information about the event, including how to register in advance for this lecture.

We would greatly appreciate it if you could attend this event.

Sincerely,

Jeroen Vervliet, Director Peace Palace Library

Haim Divon, Ambassador of Israel