Samenvatting

The Hague has over the decades evolved into the City of Peace and Justice where multiple nongovernmental organisations (NGOs) working on promoting the RoL have situated themselves. In order to maintain the brand name 'Peace and Justice', adapting to current developments is crucial for the municipality of the City. An idea is to focus more on RoL promotion, a topic that has become a spearhead in the Dutch development cooperation policy. The Municipality of The Hague wants to have a better view on what RoL promotion entails, where this promotion takes place, which organisations are involved, and what the new development cooperation policy entails. This all leads to the following central question: can the Municipality of The Hague respond to the new development cooperation policy regarding Rule of Law promotion to further develop as City of Peace and Justice?
After extensive desk research and interviews with experts, the following conclusion has been drawn: the Municipality can respond to the new development cooperation policy regarding RoL
promotion to further develop as City of Peace and Justice, but to a certain extent. Logically, it is the government that decides which areas have priority and what is invested in. With the establishment of RoL as a spearhead within the national development cooperation policy, the timing is right. Moreover, there are opportunities for the Municipality to function as a facilitator, accommodator and stimulator of this developing process. To respond to the development cooperation policy, the City should cooperate as much as possible
with the partners involved (e.g. ministries, organisations). For the Municipality to actually do so, it is crucial to participate as much as it can in the knowledge platform, which aims to bring together
organisations involved in RoL promotion. The first step would likely be to become a permanent member of the platform. It is likely that the Municipality could in this way make the work of organisations involved easier, e.g., by stimulating partnerships and improving communication between the stakeholders. The Municipality can also stimulate the establishment of a suitable environment for RoL initiatives. It could organise, e.g., lectures, debates and expert meetings that revolve around RoL issues. The celebrations of '100 years Peace Palace' at the end of 2013, could be a great opportunity to do this. Moreover, the idea is to have 'The Hague principles' or the 'The Hague approach', as a result of a research conducted by The Hague Institute for Global Justice. It is plausible that having such an approach creates a link between the City of The Hague and RoL
promotion. This could again contribute to the establishment of the City strategy expansion. Ideally, RoL promotion would become a topic of priority within the 'International City' investment programme, so that initiatives developing within this area of expertise receive special attention. Having the City Council, alderman and the Mayor fully informed and 'on board' is crucial.