Preliminary Material -- Introduction / Steven van Hoogstraten -- Compulsory Jurisdiction of the Court under the Optional Clause / Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf -- The Hague Academy of International Law and the Development of the Settlement of Disputes as a Global Mechanism / Yves Daudet -- The Constitutional Role of the ICJ within the UN System / Niels Blokker -- Mediation as an Alternative for International Dispute Settlement / Jeroen Vervliet -- Vers une nouvelle philosophie pour la justice pénale internationale / François Roux -- What Is There to Find for a Criminal Lawyer in the Peace Palace ? / Alphons M. M. Orie -- The PCA, the Hague Courts and the Yukos case / Serge Vlaar -- The Universalization of Human Rights / Willem van Genugten -- Global Protection of Human Rights. Who Can See the Wood for the Trees ? / Nico Schrijver -- ICTY and the New Law on Genocide / Carsten Stahn -- The Peace Palace and New Challenges to Peace Diplomacy / Steven van Hoogstraten -- Le Palais de la Paix, la CIJ et la Fondation Carnegie / Philippe Couvreur -- The Right to Food, a Standard for Civilization ? / Steven van Hoogstraten -- Closing Statement / Steven van Hoogstraten.

International law and the Hague, the city where so many institutions of international law are established, are intimately connected. This book presents the views developed by some of the active players in the legal capital of the world on a number of the current challenges faced by international law. The starting point was a seminar held in the Peace Palace, reviewing some of the legal policy questions of today, such as the acceptance of the jurisdiction of the ICJ as a prerequisite to dispute settlement. Supplementing these articles on classical international law are essays dealing with the younger discipline of international criminal law, as practiced by the ICC and other Tribunals, offering ideas on, among other things. how to speed up the lengthy procedures of international criminal tribunals. Other contributions debate the universality of human rights and their legal protection.