The Hague (AFP) – From conflicts in Ukraine and the Middle East to salt mining in Brazil, Dutch courts are floor zero in a worldwide authorized battleground with far-reaching penalties.
Publication date: 19/03/2024 – 07:39 Modification date: 19/03/2024 – 07:37
3 minutes
A powerful authorized custom, residence to many multinational corporations and worldwide organizations, and world accessibility. This nation has a number of trump playing cards to decide on as a authorized arbitration nation.
Three months into 2024, the town’s two most influential worldwide tribunals have already handed down headline-grabbing selections on Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the battle swirling between Israel and the Gaza Strip. .
In early March, the International Criminal Court (ICC) issued arrest warrants for 2 senior Russian officers, and in January, the UN’s highest physique, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), ordered Israel to extend help to Gaza and issued emergency measures to guard the nation. inhabitants.
At the identical time, an area civil courtroom issued a landmark ruling halting the availability of F-35 fighter jet components from the Netherlands to Israel.
Victims of the devastating salt mining operation within the Brazilian metropolis of Maceio are suing petrochemical big Braskem for compensation in a Rotterdam courtroom. This is one in every of many worldwide compensation instances which have begun lately.
In February, an Amsterdam courtroom dismissed Russia’s attraction in a file $50 billion lawsuit introduced by former shareholders of the dismantled oil big Yukos.
In current years, Dutch courts have additionally determined main local weather change instances, together with one received by the NGO Milieudefense in 2021.
In this case, the courtroom ordered petrochemical big Shell to cut back its greenhouse gasoline emissions, in what’s believed to be the primary main local weather change ruling in opposition to an organization.
authorized hotbed
So why is the Netherlands a hotbed of worldwide litigation?
“I feel it is probably simpler to litigate within the Netherlands,” mentioned Cecily Rose, assistant professor of public worldwide regulation at Leiden University.
“The comparatively low authorized hurdles for submitting class actions within the Netherlands have the impact of creating it simpler for NGOs to convey public curiosity litigation in Dutch courts,” she informed AFP.
“As the Netherlands is residence to globally energetic multinational corporations reminiscent of Shell, Unilever and Heineken, instances with worldwide implications are usually dropped at Dutch courts,” mentioned Asser International.・Leon Castellanos Jankiewicz, chief researcher on the European Law Institute, added: .
“These multinational corporations are topic to Dutch regulation, so Dutch courts have jurisdiction over these corporations and their transactions,” he informed AFP.
The nation additionally has a extremely expert authorized workforce and a robust perception in upholding the regulation.
“The Netherlands has a practice of attaching nice significance to the event of worldwide regulation,” Castellanos-Jankiewicz mentioned.
“Promoting the event of the worldwide authorized order is a everlasting objective of Dutch international coverage,” he mentioned.
Experts mentioned the superb infrastructure accessible all over the world, coupled with the notion that the Netherlands is a “impartial web site”, made it a sexy choice for events looking for a good decision.
“Peace and Justice”
The Netherlands additionally hosts a number of worldwide tribunals and tribunals, in addition to our bodies such because the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons and Europol, and “these organizations are built-in into the Dutch authorized framework,” says the authorized professional. mentioned the household.
Located on the Dutch coast between Amsterdam and Rotterdam, The Hague has all the time been thought-about a “metropolis of peace and justice” by the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the primary worldwide arbitration establishment, established in 1899.
The PCA nonetheless exists at present, and after World War II laid the foundations for later establishments within the metropolis, such because the ICJ and the ICC, which opened in 2002.
Other worldwide courts are additionally based mostly right here, together with the now-defunct Yugoslav War Crimes Tribunal (ICTY) and the Kosovo Specialized Chamber of Commerce.
“Litigation in these jurisdictions is a part of the United Nations system and subsequently fully impartial of Dutch courts, however they amplify many points of world concern,” Castellanos-Jankiewicz mentioned. Stated.
© 2024 AFP