{"id":42663,"date":"2026-09-03T01:24:42","date_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:24:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/42663\/"},"modified":"2026-09-03T01:24:42","modified_gmt":"2026-09-03T01:24:42","slug":"the-hagues-permanent-court-of-arbitration-a-peace-station","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/42663\/","title":{"rendered":"The Hague’s Permanent Court of Arbitration: A Peace Station"},"content":{"rendered":"

Any urban dweller knows that few things have the capacity to make us as miserable as our neighbours can. If fate plants you next door to someone inconsiderate, noisy, hostile or otherwise vexatious, their unpleasantness is made worse by the fact that you\u2019re stuck with them: nobody gets through life without, at some point, entertaining fantasies of retribution vis-\u00e0-vis the folks next door. The same is true, as the most rudimentary scrutiny of history books will attest, of countries. Because their disputes can often end in large numbers of buildings being knocked down and hot metal being fired, many attempts have been made over the centuries to construct a framework for states to resolve their differences peacefully.<\/p>\n

One of the less likely efforts was wrought by an accidental alliance of a Russian king and a Scottish-American millionaire. The Permanent Court of Arbitration is the enduring result of The Hague Peace Conference of 1899, called by Tsar Nicholas II, apparently fretful about an increasingly militarised planet (it certainly worked out badly for him). The spectacular building constructed to house the PCA \u2013 the Hague\u2019s Peace Palace \u2013 was underwritten by the steel magnate Andrew Carnegie, who wanted to invest in mankind\u2019s betterment. The Palace, and its glorious gardens \u2013 in which Carnegie imagined the world\u2019s finest minds being inspired to find peaceful solutions \u2013 were the result of an international design competition, and were opened in Carnegie\u2019s presence on 28 August, 1913. Exactly 10 months later, a young Bosnian Serb nationalist raised his pistol on a Sarajevo footpath: though we tend to assume that peace is a universal human desire, it\u2019s difficult to nurture.<\/p>\n

Nevertheless, people try, and with occasional success. In July 2009, a five-person arbitral tribunal empanelled by the PCA delivered, beneath the stained glass windows of the Peace Palace\u2019s Great Hall of Justice, a decision in a dispute between the government of Sudan and the Sudan People\u2019s Liberation Movement (SPLM). At stake were the borders of Sudan\u2019s oil-rich Abyei region, over which much blood had been spilt \u2013 a month before the PCA made its ruling, at least 22 Sudanese soldiers died in clashes with SPLM militias, and Al-Jazeera reported that most of the population of the region\u2019s capital city (also called Abyei) had been displaced by fighting. The PCA\u2019s ruling, by which both sides had agreed in advance to abide, reduced the size of the Abyei region, and awarded control of the Heglig oil fields and the Nile oil pipeline to Khartoum. \u201cBoth parties,\u201d says Judith Levine, a legal counsel at the PCA, \u201ccame to us at the end of a 25-year civil war that had left two million dead, and asked us to resolve it, and quickly.\u201d<\/p>\n

Agreement over Abyei was a key step towards the full implementation of the 2005 peace deal that aimed to end Sudan\u2019s interminable civil war, and which provides for a 2011 referendum in which Abyei\u2019s people will decide whether they want to remain part of Sudan proper, or join the autonomous region of Southern Sudan (it is expected they will choose the latter, which explains SPLM\u2019s desire for a settlement, even at the cost of resource-rich land). Each side was asked to appoint two people to the five-person arbitration committee. When agreement couldn\u2019t be reached on the fifth, the PCA\u2019s secretary-general chose someone.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur role then,\u201d explains the PCA\u2019s deputy secretary-general, Brooks Daly, \u201cwas to make sure we had chairs in the right place, translators who could speak Arabic, Dinka and English, security, catering, all the nuts and bolts.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had to be very sensitive,\u201d recalls Aloysius \u201cLouis\u201d Llamzon, another legal counsel. \u201cA lot of witnesses were tribesmen who\u2019d never travelled north of Khartoum before, all wearing their traditional dress. Some of them had to pray five times a day, so we had to figure out which way Mecca was so they could lay their mats on the lawn.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"TheThe Peace Palace\u2019s ornate spire<\/p>\n

\"HandsOld PCA casebooks<\/p>\n

\"OrnateThe grand interiors<\/p>\n

\"TwoLegal counsels Judith Levine, left, and Aloysius \u2018Louis\u2019 Llamzon, right<\/p>\n

\"DeputyDeputy secretary-general Brooks Daly<\/p>\n

\"ManPaul-Jean Le Cannu, Legal counsel<\/p>\n

\"ManThe mounting paperwork<\/p>\n

\"LegalVilmante Blink, legal secretary and Aloysius Llamzon<\/p>\n

\"FramedPortrait of a mustachioed, bemedalled grandee who signed off on the PCA\u2019s creation<\/p>\n

\"GreenLegal volumes<\/p>\n

\"ChristiaanSecretary-general Christiaan Kr\u00f6ner<\/p>\n

Unusually for a case of this sort, proceedings were broadcast live online, and were avidly watched back home.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt seems obvious,\u201d says Daly, \u201cbut it was regarded as a great innovation in arbitration, which is usually done in camera. Suddenly, interested parties in Sudan \u2013 and international law nerds from around the world \u2013 could watch a live case for the first time. And it\u2019s still on our website [pca-cpa.org], so it can be used in lectures.\u201d<\/p>\n

Daly, 41, is a Californian who arrived here via a Los Angeles law firm and the International Chamber of Commerce in Paris. Levine, 34, is from Sydney and previously practised in New York. Llamzon, 32, is a Yale Law School graduate from the Philippines (10 other nationalities are represented among the PCA\u2019s 17 legal staff). All are hearteningly enthusiastic, leafing through folders of old cases \u2013 such as the 1928 decision that decided that the Pacific island of Palmas (now Miangas) was Dutch (therefore now Indonesian) rather than American.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s an old institution,\u201d says Daly, regarding the original green velvet wallpaper and William Strutt painting of Isiah 11:6 (\u201cThe wolf shall also dwell with the lamb\u201d) in his office. \u201cAnd it\u2019s an old building, though a beautiful one. Yet we\u2019re creeping up on the cutting edge of dispute resolution. In the last 18 months, our caseload has exploded.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other recent cases have included the 2007 ruling on a maritime boundary between Guyana and Suriname, which necessitated searching for and disinterring a marker stone from a 1930 survey. \u201cIt wasn\u2019t quite where either side thought,\u201d smiles Daly, \u201cso everyone saved face.\u201d Some nifty diplomacy was called for though. \u201cGuyana wanted to see some colonial maps owned by the Dutch government,\u201d explains Daly. \u201cSuriname [a former Dutch colony] objected to this in case it made them subject to other border disputes, so we asked them to help us pick the expert who studied the maps. The tricky bit then was that the expert had to speak Dutch, but to keep the Guyanese happy and avoid implicating the Dutch government, they couldn\u2019t be Dutch. So we went recruiting in South Africa and the north of Belgium.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PCA\u2019s current docket runs to 35 pending cases including disputes between states and investors or other private parties, disputes within states, and good, old-fashioned disputes between states (the PCA is in \u201cthe very early stages\u201d, according to Daly, of taking a role in a spat between Croatia and Slovenia over their mutual border). Asked why the PCA has become quite so overrun \u2013 as recently as 2000, the PCA had just five cases on the go \u2013 Daly responds with the optimism that animates the entire enterprise.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a pragmatic way out,\u201d he enthuses. \u201cAnd in long-running disputes especially, it can help deflect criticism from political leaders trying to resolve things without looking like they\u2019ve sold out \u2013 they can say that they\u2019re merely abiding by the decision of a neutral legal overlooker.\u201d According to all recent reports, the peace in Abyei is holding.<\/p>\n

The Peace Palace is decorated with the artefacts and artworks donated by the PCA\u2019s 110 member states (it is not necessary to be a member state to apply to the PCA for help). The original building is abutted by modern extensions \u2013 the Peace Palace now also houses the International Court of Justice, the Hague Academy of International Law, and the immense Peace Palace Library. It also boasts a good restaurant, where the PCA\u2019s current secretary-general, Christiaan Kr\u00f6ner, explains his view of the organisation\u2019s present and future over lunch. \u201cI was brought up,\u201d he explains, \u201cwith the idea that sovereignty is alpha and omega, so from that point of view, it\u2019s fascinating.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kr\u00f6ner, 64, is a career diplomat who has been the Netherlands\u2019 ambassador to Washington, Paris, Rome and Tel Aviv, among other postings. He has occupied his present position \u2013 by tradition, the PCA\u2019s secretary-general is always Dutch \u2013 since 2008. \u201cThe Abyei case is exactly the kind of thing I mean,\u201d he continues. \u201cIt was unprecedented for a breakaway movement to go into arbitration with its own government, to agree on a boundary which may become a border.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kr\u00f6ner admits to a certain crusading \u2013 if understated and diplomatic \u2013 zeal about the PCA\u2019s possibilities. \u201cFor years,\u201d he says, \u201cthis organisation has had a sleeping beauty aspect to it. But because of globalisation, we are being called upon a lot more. There are a lot more bilateral investment disputes, simply because there\u2019s a lot more bilateral investment, and there\u2019s a lot more attention paid to obscure conflicts which have been going on for years, because communications have become much faster and more accessible.\u201d<\/p>\n

The PCA has secured host country agreements with South Africa, India, Costa Rica, Argentina, Singapore and (pending ratification) Lebanon. The hope is that obviating the need for disputants to travel to the Hague will make arbitration more accessible. In 2010, the PCA will open its first overseas office in Mauritius \u2013 where they are likely to have little difficulty recruiting staff.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe have to spread the gospel,\u201d he says. \u201cInternational law is still perceived as an invention of former colonial powers. But the combination of diplomacy and international law can be a very powerful tool. There is an idealistic dimension to this, but I am an idealist. If the international legal order can be strengthened, more countries can be persuaded to resolve things peacefully.\u201d<\/p>\n

Other international arbitrators<\/p>\n

International Court of Arbitration,
Paris
Handles international commercial disputes<\/p>\n

Court of Arbitration for Sport,
Lausanne
Sporting disputes, mostly transfers and doping rulings<\/p>\n

International Court of Justice,
The Hague
United Nations body that has been settling international disputes since 1946<\/p>\n

International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea,
Hamburg
For disputes arising out of the UN Convention on the Law of the Sea<\/p>\n

International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes,
Washington
For governments and private or foreign investors in dispute<\/p>\n

World Trade Organization Dispute Settlement Body,
Geneva
Deals with trade disputes between sovereign states<\/p>\n

Ten past cases<\/p>\n

France vs Germany (1909)
France got upset about German consular officials in Morocco granting passage to Foreign Legion deserters.<\/p>\n

Decision:
France had a point, but got over-excited.<\/p>\n

France vs Great Britain (1911)
Vinayak Savarkar, the Hindu nationalist revolutionary, was being sent to India to stand trial for murder. He escaped from the ship at Marseilles and was recaptured by the British \u2013 and later sentenced to 50 years. France sought his return.<\/p>\n

Decision:
France had no case.<\/p>\n

France vs Italy (1913)
Italy seized a French mail steamer. France demanded over 200,000 francs in reparations, including a symbolic one franc for \u201cthe offence against the honour of the French flag\u201d.<\/p>\n

Decision:
Italy to pay 160,000 francs to France. Honour of flag not addressed.<\/p>\n

United States of America vs Netherlands (1928)
Disputed sovereignty of the island of Palmas.<\/p>\n

Decision:
In favour of the Netherlands.<\/p>\n

RCA (Radio Corporation of America) vs China (1935)
RCA thought an agreement between China and one of their rivals violated a previous agreement between China and RCA.<\/p>\n

Decision:
In favour of China.<\/p>\n

Sudan vs Turriff Construction Company (1970)
Sudan believed that Turriff had dawdled in fulfilling a contract to build homes for people evacuated due to the High Aswan Dam project, and took its business elsewhere.<\/p>\n

Decision:
Turriff was entitled to payment and damages.<\/p>\n

US vs UK (1992)
Squabble over user charges at Heathrow airport.<\/p>\n

Decision:
Both at fault.<\/p>\n

Lance Larsen vs Hawaiian Kingdom (2001)
Larsen, a resident of Hawaii, claimed Hawaii was violating an 1849 treaty by enforcing American municipal laws \u2013 specifically, by jailing him for driving without a licence.<\/p>\n

Decision:
The proceedings were \u201cnot maintainable\u201d, due to non-involvement of the US.<\/p>\n

Barbados vs Trinidad and Tobago (2006)
Disputed maritime boundary.<\/p>\n

Decision:
A minor adjustment to the border.<\/p>\n

Romak SA vs Uzbekistan (2009)
Swiss cereal corporation alleged that Uzbekistan had violated a bilateral investment treaty with Switzerland by failing to pay for wheat shipments.<\/p>\n

Decision:
Tribunal didn\u2019t have jurisdiction as case didn\u2019t fall under the treaty, and dismissed the case.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Any urban dweller knows that few things have the capacity to make us as miserable as our neighbours…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":42664,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[27246,2924,19126,42],"class_list":["post-42663","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-the-hague","tag-conflict-resolution","tag-international-law","tag-sudan","tag-the-hague"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42663","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=42663"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/42663\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/42664"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=42663"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=42663"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=42663"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}