United Nations Development Programme to open new office in The Hague

A department of the United Nations for developmental aid is opening a new office in The Hague. The United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) wants to use the office to think about new ways to stimulate the rule of law for human rights abuses.

The agreements for the new UN office were finalized during a visit by The Hague Mayor Jan van Zanen to the headquarters in New York. Van Zanen also spoke there with Secretary General António Guterres.

“It is inspiring and symbolic that UNDP’s Justice Futures CoLab will have its home in The Hague, known as the city of peace and justice,” said Katy Thompson, Co-Director of UNDP’s Governance, Rule of Law and Peacebuilding Hub.

“Especially in the most complex crises, people need protection and justice for their grievances,” said Shoko Noda, Assistant Secretary-General and the Director of the UNDP Crisis Bureau. “UNDP’s new office in The Hague will strengthen its partnership with the Government of The Netherlands to jointly ensure that those who experience injustice have paths to seek recourse.

The Hague’s reputation as the city of peace has resulted in several international courts and hundreds of international organizations being housed in the city.

For example, the United Nations International Court of Justice has its seat in the Peace Palace. The Hague is also home to the International Criminal Court, the former Yugoslavia Tribunal, a UN prison, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the European police agency Europol, and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), which received the Nobel Peace Prize in 2013.

Other notable offices include the Hariri Tribunal in Leidschendam and the European Patent Office in Rijswijk.

All these organizations have resulted in almost 20,000 direct jobs, researchers said, in addition to 16,000 indirect positions.