Summer in The Hague
It was an honour to serve at the Embassy of Canada to the Netherlands this past summer under Ambassador Sabine Nölke.
Before joining the Embassy of Canada to the Netherlands, I admit that I didn't really know to what extend Embassy staff hand a hand in the substantive legal portfolio. I imagined the role to be quite policy-driven—and while that’s true, I was struck by how much legal work was actually available. I quickly learned that Canadian embassies, or missions, act as meaningful outposts for the rule of law, serving not only the local Canadian population and visiting dignitaries, but also forging crucial bilateral connections and engaging in complex multilateral policy issues. I was, and continue to be, in awe of what a small team of lawyers, political scientists, and cultural advisors are able to accomplish in a short time, and what a difference Canadian advocacy can make in the global political and legal landscape.
There were a few strokes of luck that made my time in The Hague especially meaningful. The first was that I joined the team just a few months before the retirement of Ambassador of Canada to the Netherlands Sabine Nölke, a force in the international law community and a very well-respected advocate. Sabine drafted several key pieces of international legislation with regards to women, migrants, and chemical warfare. On a personal note, Sabine was compassionate, generous with her time, and a fierce advocate of women. Both she and her husband Chris Ram, a lawyer with the Department of Justice, welcomed me into their home, where we discussed the finer points of law, diplomacy, and (the admittedly quite bland) Dutch cuisine. I was also supervised by the counsellor at the Embassy Gallit Dobner for three months. In like fashion, she and her husband Luc Vaillancourt were endlessly generous about sharing their experiences, which I felt gave me a rich inside glimpse into working for Global Affairs Canada. Gallit’s posting came to an end in early August, but she was adamant that I have a meaningful experience and advocated for me to be as involved in the Embassy’s legal portfolio as possible.
Canadian leadership in the Liberation of the Netherlands
This year marks the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands. This year, the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs decided to honour Canada for our leadership in the Battle of the Scheldt, a crucial milestone in the Liberation of the Netherlands at the end of World War II. As such, Governor General Julie Payette was invited to give remarks at the kickoff event for a year of commemorations, and I had the great privilege of being involved in coordinating her Official Visit to the Netherlands. This was another bit of luck I experienced, as these visits are quite rare and require all-hands-on-deck to make it happen. I felt absolutely trusted by the team to provide support for the visit and was a central part of the team coordinating all the moving parts. I drafted briefs for the Governor General’s protocol team in Ottawa, created and implemented our social media strategy, liaised with the Dutch press attaché, and contributed to weekly planning sessions leading up to the Governor General’s visit.
THE foreign policy and LEGAL PORTFOLIOs
The Hague plays host to over 100 embassies, as well as multilateral institutions that are central to the administration of international criminal justice like the International Criminal Court (ICC), the International Court of Justice (ICJ), and the Organization for the Prohibition of Chemical Weapons (OPCW), the latter to which Canada’s Ambassador serves as the permanent representative. Though I was brought on to focus on Foreign Policy and Advocacy, knowing of my focus on law my supervisors were apt to bring me into the legal portfolio. At the ICC, I was invited to attend the review of legal aid policies for defense counsel—an initiative that Sabine Nölke is leading—as well as budget strategy review for the upcoming fiscal year. I was also extremely fortunate that Sabine trusted me to represent Canada in her absence. When the Ambassador could not attend a meeting, she would often send me in her stead to report on issues and represent the Canadian position. For example, I attended a meeting of the International Commission for Missing Persons (ICMP), wherein they discussed a multilateral strategy for building DNA databases to help locate persons who go missing along migratory routes. Likewise, I participated in a consultation about the Role of the Financial Sector in Mitigating Human Trafficking and Slavery in which we discussed how partnerships with multinational financial institutions leveraging artificial intelligence can help put a stop to unlawful exploitation of vulnerable persons. I also attended the ICJ with our Legal Secretary for the Jadhav (India v. Pakistan) decision, after which I was tasked with reporting back to headquarters in Ottawa.
75th anniversary of the liberation of the netherlands
The exhibit I produced for the Embassy for the 75th anniversary of the Liberation of the Netherlands was quite extensive. The exhibit was part of the Vrijheidsboulevard, or Freedom Boulevard, a labyrinth made up of 70 shipping containers, each of which is curated by a museum, organization, or embassy. I designed two of these containers: one was an NFB-sponsored film house, and the other which told Canadian stories from the Battle of the Scheldt. To create that content, I researched the Battle, fact-checking with our Defense Attaché, the National Archives of Canada (NAC), Veterans Affairs, and local historians. With the exception of the Dutch translation, I did every part of this exhibit from the research to the design work, as well as the production of the posters and set-up on the day of the event. On the day of the event, an estimated 10,000 members of the public visited the Vrijheidsboulevard exhibit.
SEXUAL VIOLENCE, per the rome statute
Another area of advocacy in which I was able to participate was that of sexual violence. The Rome Statute’s defines sexual violence in a way that is entirely circular: “violence of a sexual nature.” This poses significant challenges when prosecuting sexual violence-based crimes at the ICC. For this reason, a group called the Womens’ Initiative for Gender Justice hosted an outstanding panel entitled Call it What It Is: Translating the lived experience of sexual violence survivors into law. The panel included Canadian Linda Bianchi (from the Department of Justice), but more importantly, featured survivors of sexual violence who could speak to some of the challenges they encountered in the pursuit of justice for the crimes committed against them. It was truly one of the most outstanding panels I have ever attended, and I was proud that Canada both sponsored and provided significant support for the event. In addition to reporting on the event, I was able to help support their team in logistics and promotion.
VENEZUELA
I also contributed to the Venezuela portfolio, in which Canada has taken a considerable leadership role. I supported our Legal Secretary in coordinating the drafting of a series of Note Verbales to the ICC (observing only), denouncing the Maduro regime and the human rights violations that have taken place under his illegitimate tenure. This was an especially fascinating portfolio, as events continue to unfold in real time and I was lucky enough to be exposed to some of the implements that are used in international legal advocacy.
The world legal summit
I also organized an event of my own while I was at the Embassy. Keen to incorporate my past experience working digital design and tech, I hosted a chapter of the World Legal Summit (WLS) in the Hague called Tech to Protect: Grand challenges in security, disinformation, and democracy. I collaborated with a few different tech groups –The Hague Hacks, the local chapter of Legal Hackers, and a small legal consulting company– to bring in local experts at the intersection of innovation and policy and have a conversation about how the tech sector and the diplomatic community can work together to protect and empower vulnerable persons. Admittedly, I think the success of the event surprised the Ambassador and our team and revealed an appetite in our network to continue the conversation, one which does not often happen in Embassy circles. I have also included the Scenario Brief that I provided to the Ambassador when I pitched her the idea, which offers background on the WLS as well as our event.
Farewell
In the days leading up to my departure from the Hague, the Embassy team was incredibly gracious and kind enough to host several farewells for me. One of the remarks that I found really touching was from Second Secretary Sarah Gillis, who said that I had not been an intern at the Embassy, but rather, a full member of the team. This was the most powerful outcome of my time; because of the trust I had with my colleagues, I felt I got a very strong sense of what it is like to work in international diplomacy, both on the multilateral and bilateral fronts. I am so grateful that they trusted me enough to act on behalf of the Embassy. I was quite independent, but collaborated closely, which is my ideal work style. I feel I was able to offer a few skills that complimented and rounded out their team and forged lasting professional relationships with my GAC colleagues.