Embassy of India

The Hague

Press Release

October 30, 2020

The Embassy of India, The Hague joins the O.P. Jindal Global University (OPJGU) to bring eminent legal personalities of The Hague to India in a Webinar Series titled “Contemporary Reflections on the International Law”.

The Hague which is also known as the city of Peace and Justice is home to renowned institutes of International Law including International Court of Justice (ICJ), Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), The Hague Conference on Private International Law (HCCH) and The Hague Academy. The purpose of the above series is to bring the best of knowledge and thinking from eminent legal luminaries from The Hague to the legal fraternity of India, particularly lawyers, academic scholars and students.

The latest webinar of the series was held on October 28, 2020 with the topic “Practice before International Arbitral Tribunals”. Mr. Hugo Siblesz, Secretary-General of PCA; Dr. P. S. Rao, Special Adviser, Attorney-General Office, State of Qatar; and Prof. Gudmundur Eiricksson,  Professor and Executive Director, Centre for International Legal Studies, OPJGU were the panelists.

H.E. Venu Rajamony, Ambassador of India to the Netherlands in the opening address for the webinar said that with India`s emergence as a global power and its commitment as a responsible actor to rule based international order, engagement of our academics, scholars, and students with key international legal institutes attains tremendous significance and it is the endeavor of the Embassy to bring the eminent intuitions in The Hague to the legal, academic and student fraternity of India through virtual means by using technology and internet.

Earlier, on 19th of October, a Webinar on the “International Judicial Process during the Covid-19 Pandemic” was held. President of the ICJ H.E. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, H.E. Judge Dalveer Bhandari and Registrar of the ICJ Mr. Philippe Gautier were the panelists. H.E. Mr. Venu Rajamony, Ambassador of India to the Netherlands made opening remarks. Prof. (Dr.) C. Raj Kumar, Founding Vice Chancellor of O.P. Jindal Global University and Dean, Jindal Global Law School moderated the discussions.

President of ICJ H.E. Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf said that ICJ reacted very fast to the surprise of COVID-19 in March 2020 to put in place necessary measures and mechanism. The Court did not miss a bit and were able to continue fulfilling the mission entrusted to it by the international community. The Court did not suspend any hearing and of all the cases scheduled for hearing in 2020 only one was moved to 2021. In view of the symbolism and solemnity associated with the ICJ, the Court adopted hybrid format of hearing with majority of judges delivering judgments from the Great Hall of Justice and other judges joining remotely. A total virtual format doesn’t fit with the solemnity of the ICJ. The Court has adopted elaborate internal and external protocols for its meeting and hearings. President Yusuf said the ICJ due to quality of jurisprudence and judicial work enjoys increased trust and confidence of the member states and that will not absolutely change due to the methods of work adopted now due to challenge of COVID-19.

President Yusuf thanked the Embassy and OPJGU for giving ICJ an opportunity to explain to a wider public what the court had done and had to do in the face of COVID-19. He thanked Ambassador Rajamony and Professor Raj Kumar for organizing the webinar and said that it has been more than a pleasure to have this dialogue.

The first Webinar of the series was held on September 2, 2020 on the theme of “Indian Judges and the International Court of Justice”. Mr. Philippe Couvreur, former Registrar of the ICJ and Prof. (Dr.) B.S. Chimni, Distinguished Professor of International Law , Jindal Global Law School were the panelists. The webinar highlighted India`s association with ICJ as well as the unique approach and contribution by the Indian Judges. Mr. Philippe Couvreur said Indian culture and beliefs have been very much present throughout the mandates of Indian Judges and the court benefited quite a lot from that. The ICJ is very indebted with them not only for their legal input but for more than that for their personalities, for their style, for what they brought beyond law, culturally and spiritually to the courts.

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