Annual Report 2008

Foreword

In 2008 the T.M.C. Asser Instituut agreed a five-year covenant with its governing body, the University of Amsterdam. This covenant offers clarity and assurance with respect to the Institute’s funding derived from the so- called ‘first money stream’.
Furthermore, it describes the expectations and commitments of both parties whilst laying the foundation for a sustainable financial and academic future.
Resultant from findings and recommendations emanating from both the Evaluation Report (2007) and the Covenant (2008-2012), the Institute embarked upon the initiation of three inter-university research programmes. The perseverance and sheer hard work of the many parties involved in this initiative resulted in the Institute’s Board approving the three programmes during its sitting in December 2008. The most advanced initiative to date is the European Law programme. The T.M.C. Asser Instituut together with the Law faculties of the Universities of Rotterdam, Leiden, Maastricht and Twente established the Centre for the Law of EU External Relations (CLEER).
Needless to say, much progress has also been made in establishing a similar interuniversity research programme in the area of Public International Law with the Universities of Amsterdam, Leiden and Tilburg. The Private International Law programme will also be initiated in 2009.
The activities of the Education, Training and Events unit received an extra impulse with the appointment of Ann O’ Brien as Head of Department. She is also the Deputy Director of the Institute. We reflect back with pride on some of our many successful events which include:

• The Summer Law Programme on ‘International Criminal Law: In Search of Accountability’, run in collaboration with the War Crimes Research Office of American University’s Washington College of Law. This annual course contributes 6 credits to the American University’s own (International Bar Association accredited) Master programme on International Criminal Law. The programme attracted some 40 graduate students from the American University and other top US Law Schools.
• The organisation of 6 tailor made training courses for Judges and Prosecutors in the framework of the Hague Forum for Judicial Expertise. These courses were in 2008 organised on behalf of The Hague Academic Coalition and participants hailed from Iraq, Iran, Cambodia and Sudan.
• The MTEC course ‘Administration of Justice from an organisational and policy perspective’ delivered to 50 senior civil servants from European Union accession countries under the auspices of the CROSS Agency of the EVD.
• The organisation of the first colloquium on ‘Jihad and the challenges of international and domestic law’ which undertook one of the first attempts to review the discourses of Jihad and the impact it has on the actions of States and non-state actors.

Also in 2008 the T.M.C. Asser Instituut, together with The Hague Institute for the Internationalisation of Law (HiiL) signed a collaboration agreement with the International Criminal Court to coordinate and supply case law and documentation to the
successful ‘Legal Tools project’. Initial steps were undertaken to collect data and research opportunities for technical cooperation and a sustained financial future.
Our researchers were involved in a variety of research activities both fundamental and applied, carrying out studies for Dutch ministries and International organisations; such as the European Union.
The feasibility study aimed at identifying and promoting The Hague as ‘City of Justice, Peace and Security’ as a location for international organisations in the field of the environment and environment-related subjects is worth mentioning. Projects
with respect to ‘promoting the social dialogue in the area of sports’ were continued and based on the established experience new projects were acquired and successfully implemented.
We were also pleased to be able to congratulate Amna Guellali, Bart-Jan van het Kaar, Marjan Olfers and Tamara Takács (Asser Dissertations Programme) on completing their PhD studies.
Once again, the numerous topical lectures delivered within the Supranational Criminal Law lectures series drew large audiences, in particular the lecture delivered by Professor Cherif Bassiouni on 1 October 2008. The Institute’s Round Table organised on the ‘upcoming case against Radovan Karadzic at the ICTY’ was also extremely well attended.
The various adjustments to our business practices during the past year have resulted in a further fine-tuning of our focus with an improvement in our efficiency. The years ahead will see further attention paid to achieving organisational and cultural change that will aid the Institute to fulfil its role as an open inter-university organisation presenting a platform for interdisciplinary and high quality research where motivated staff of both the Institute and Universities will work in harmony.

Directorate T.M.C. Asser Instituut
Frans A. Nelissen, General Director
Ann O’Brien, Deputy Director