International Criminal Law Network:
On June 29 ICLN held her Annual Reception at the law firm of Buren van Velzen Guelen. The topic was “The outcome of the Review Conference of the Rome Statute” that had taken place in Kampala a weeks before. Mrs. Silvana Arbia, registrar at the ICC, Mr Pieter de Savornin-Lohman, ICC-ambassador at the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Professor William Schabas of the National University of Ireland in Galway shared their views, experiences and opinions on the outcome of this Review Conference. Given that the subject of the lecture had only taken place shortly before, more than 80 persons attended. Overall, the Reception was considered to be a huge success.The next two events of ICLN will consist of the Fall Lecture in November and the 9th edition of the Annual Conference in December. The topic for this year’s conference is: Making European Criminal Justice Work: Assessments and Perspectives One Year After the Lisbon Treaty”. For more information on both events, please keep checking www.icln.net

World Legal Forum Foundation:

On 22 June 2010, the World Legal Forum foundation organized a sunny and successful kick-off presentation of the Hague Utilities for Global Organizations (HUGO) programme!
Along with seven partners, WLF submitted the HUGO proposal to the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and the City of The Hague within the Dutch subsidy programme “Peaks in the Delta.” In June, WLF received the very happy news that the proposal has been accepted.

The HUGO programme - creating new institutions for international dispute resolution with private stakeholders has as its objective the structuring of the interaction between public and private stakeholders in The Hague on the one hand and between international law and regional innovation on the other hand. Though its aim is market-oriented product development with multinational companies, the development of new facilities will emerge from cooperation with well-established international legal institutions in The Hague. Leading international academic institutions and regional research schools will provide the theoretical foundation for the initiatives’ establishment. The eight main HUGO partners are: World Legal Forum foundation, NautaDutilh law firm, Pels Rijcken & Drooglever Fortuijn (PRDF) law firm, Buren van Velze Guelen (BvVG) law firm, The Governance and Accountability Program, Corporate Social Responsibility Initiative (CSRI) of Harvard University, The Institute for Environmental Security (IES), The Netherlands Institute for Advanced Study in the Humanities and Social Sciences (NIAS), and Science Alliance.

The programme will be geared towards the development and realisation of new institutions for international dispute resolution in three subprogrammes:

1. Dispute resolution in the financial markets
2. Dispute resolution and Corporate Social Responsibility, focusing on the following elements: a) Business and Human Rights, b) Business and Environment, and c) Business and Labour
3. New ideas for creating dispute resolution mechanisms in strategic domains

For the different programmes, from idea towards the incorporation of the new institution(s), WLF developed different timelines. WLF will organize several workshops, multi-stakeholder meetings, and conferences to facilitate the research projects. The WLF activities below are all part of the HUGO programme.

World Legal Forum Staff news:
~ With the approval of the HUGO programme, WLF will welcome Camilla Perera as the new general manager for WLF with a focus on the HUGO programme. Camilla will also become the new manager of the International Law Unit at Science Alliance, where WLF’s secretariat is based.

The annual WLF conference will take place in the Peace Palace, in December 2010. Please visit www.worldlegalforum.org for updates.