Recap of the ‘The Hague Peace Conference Simulation’
On 9, 11 and 13 October the ‘The Hague Peace Conference Simulation’ took place at the Wijnhaven building of Leiden University.
The Conference, organized by the Honours College students of the track of tackling global challenges, Faculty of Governance and Global Affairs, aimed to provide training and experience in diplomatic negotiations, debating, public speaking and in-depth knowledge of global challenges currently faced by nations.
The Honours and Master students that participated in the program got the chance to play the role of diplomats and even got a training in diplomatic negotiations by Dr. Paul Meerst (Clingendael/PIN). Afterward, there were given lectures and panel discussions on the concerning topic by; Wil van Gemert (Vice-President Europol), Dr. Joris van Bladel (AIES), Dr. Alexander Klimburg (HCSS), Neal Conijn (Deloitte) and a guest speaker from FIOD.
The remaining question is; did the diplomats come up with a future plan regarding the security of the cyberspace? There can be concluded that the class of 2018 did a great job in setting up a strategy for cybersecurity. They came up with multiple resolutions, for instance, article 2 of their agreement concerns state parties that need to strive to implement their Human Rights obligations under the ICCPR in the realm of cyberspace and article 3 asks to establish a cooperation between the signatory states to create and maintain a secure internet. They also spend some thoughts on defining terms as ‘cyber attack’ and the definition of the vital ‘critical infrastructure’ for the purpose of the concerning agreement. In the final draft the delegates came up with 11 articles to improve the securitization of future cyberspace and the agreement was signed by 9 countries. Would you like to read the entire resolution? Click here if you want to read the entire strategy the delegations agreed upon.
In case you did not get a chance to participate in the Peace Conference Simulation this year, pay attention for the event next year since it will be reorganized. The organizers stated that the curriculum will be expanded next year and they hope to scale up the to be obtained European Credit points.
