Maandag 30 januari 2023 / Monday 30 January 2023

13. The Geopolitical Musical Chairs in Africa
Time: 10:30-12:00
Language: English
Registration open for: NL MFA internal (colleagues in The Hague and at Embassies only)
Event: Online

Over the last decades, the geopolitical situation on the African continent has been rapidly changing. New actors such as China have been increasingly active in Africa. In addition, the relationship between Africa and both the Netherlands and the EU as a whole has been changing as well. As such, it is important for BZ to try and make sense of this new situation and formulate a new strategic perspective on Africa. This session tries to aid this process by bringing together multiple speakers who will present the perspectives of different actors on these geopolitical musical chairs. Our moderator, Jelte van Wieren (Director of the Sub-Saharan Africa Department) will present multiple statements regarding the geopolitical future of Africa. Our speakers, Murithi Mutiga (Program Director Africa, International Crisis Group), Chloe Teevan (head of ECDPM's digital economy and governance team) and Stacey Links (Universiteit Leiden) will react to these statements from an African, European and Chinese perspective respectively. After this, there is room for the audience to react themselves and create a dialogue.

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14. Still in order? Can the Netherlands ensure respect for international law and basic human dignity in an insecure world?
Time: 15:00-16:00
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

One-quarter of humanity – 2 billion people – are living in conflict areas today. Many of them suffer due to wilful undermining of and disrespect for human rights law, humanitarian law and refugee law. At the same time, many continue to rely on international law for their protection and basic human dignity.

What are the perspectives for securing human dignity in an insecure world? And how can the Netherlands – through its foreign and development policy – contribute to their relevance, adherence and tangible protection of civilians affected by war and armed conflict? What can and should the Netherlands do better, and (how) do domestic discussions on rule of law and protection (Ter Apel, Toeslagenaffaire) impact the effectiveness of Dutch diplomatic efforts?

These questions will be discussed in an interactive session, moderated by Deputy Director International Cooperation Birgitta Tazelaar. We will speak with Peter Maurer, who recently stepped down as president of ICRC. In this position he operated for a decade on the front lines of humanitarian diplomacy, engaging with anyone from heads of state to leaders of local armed groups. We will also speak with Faryaneh Fadaeiresketi, who is the Deputy Regional Director MENA at Geneva Call.

 

Dinsdag 31 januari 2023 / Tuesday 31 January 2023

15. Keynote by Chandran Nair: Dismantling Global White Privilege: Equity for a Post-  Western World
Time: 10:00-11:00
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

Chandran Nair, Founder and CEO of the Global Institute for Tomorrow, will talk about his uncompromising book in which he argues that the belief in the superiority of White people and Western culture, once the driving force behind imperialism, is now woven into the very fabric of globalization. He will give specific suggestions for breaking the power of White privilege to create a post-Western world that has less conflict, is more united, and is better able to respond to the existential challenges facing all of us. Deputy Secretary-General Carola van Rijnsoever will give a reflection on the ideas put forward by Nair and the way that the Netherlands tries to deal with global challenges and some of the issues he raises.

With Chandran Nair and Carola van Rijnsoever.

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16. Building Better Bridges: Religion and Belief as a Diplomatic Tool (workshop)
Time: 11:30-13:00
Language: English
Registration open for: NL MFA internal (colleagues in The Hague and at Embassies only)
Event: Online

Religious literacy is an important tool in an effective diplomatic toolkit. 82% of the current world population would describe themselves as being religious, which makes knowledge about the practical use of religious language and religious leaders of essential importance when understanding the frame of reference of your interlocutor, or when trying to build bridges. Key questions that this workshop will deal with are: Which trends do we see in the operationalization of religion and belief in foreign policy? And: How can we as diplomats utilize religion and belief as a tool in our daily work?  

Speakers:

• Christina Maasdam and Stephanie Joubert (Mensen met een Missie)
• Mark Hengstman (Embassy Jakarta) and Gabriëlle Scholten (DAO)

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17. Demographic trends in the MENA region: blessing or curse?
Time: 14:30-16:00
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

Demographic developments in MENA, a region consisting of countries with all too often ever younger populations against the backdrop of ever older powerholders, present authoritarian rulers with daunting challenges. In that context, out of order does not mean broken, but it does mean distorted.

Where are the jobs for the masses of youngsters entering the labour market every year? How can stability be maintained when the rift between old-fashioned elites and tech-savvy youth keeps on growing? What societal changes are on the horizon when females are claiming their socio-economic and political rights? And what does all this mean for our MENA policy in years to come?

After a mentimeter quiz, UNFPA and civil society speakers from the region will delve into these grand questions. There will be ample time for debate.

Speakers:

• Ms Sherin Saadallah (UNFPA - Cairo)
• Ms Sanam Vakil (Chatham House - London)
• Mr Raheil Aziz (SPARK - Erbil)
• Mr Matt Herbert (Global Initiative against Transnational Organised Crime - Malta)

Woensdag 1 februari 2023 / Wednesday 1 February 2023

18. How can the EU help to stabilise the Strait of Taiwan?
Time: 13:00-14:30
Language: English
Registration open for: NL MFA internal (colleagues in The Hague and at Embassies only)
Event: Online

The status quo in the Strait of Taiwan has long remained unchanged. No more. The current trajectory of China-US relations, particularly concerning Taiwan, is more than worrisome. As President Biden has already announced four times, the US will defend Taiwan in case of a Chinese invasion. The visit of Nancy Pelosi last summer, and the subsequent Chinese military exercises around the island, shows that tensions are rising. This panel discussion therefore focuses on the question how the EU can be a force for stability and de-escalation in the region?’

Speakers:

• Ingrid d’Hooghe (moderator), Clingendael
• Patricia Kim (panelist), Brookings Institution, Washington DC
• Meia Nouwens (panelist), International Institute for Strategic Studies (IISS), London
• Sense Hofstede (panelist), National University of Singapore (NUS)

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19. BZ-crisisgereedstelling op departement en posten
Tijd: 15:00-16:30
Taal Nederlands
Toegankelijk voor: BZ-intern
Event: Online

De val van Kaboel. Covid-19. De oorlog in Oekraïne. Een gewapende machtsgreep in Burkina Faso. Anti-regime protesten in Iran. De veranderende wereldorde maakt dat BZ zich steeds vaker geconfronteerd ziet met geopolitieke en andersoortige grootschalige crises, zoals terroristische aanslagen, cyberaanvallen en natuurrampen. Dergelijke crises, die elke post kunnen treffen, eisen van BZ een snelle, adequate en goed gecoördineerde respons. Zowel Den Haag als het postennet moeten aan de slag om ervoor te zorgen dat BZ zo goed mogelijk is voorbereid. Daarom gaan we in deze interactieve sessie in gesprek over de crisisgereedstelling van BZ. PSG Carola van Rijnsoever en de centrale crisiscoördinator Jacco Bos trappen af met een toelichting op de agenda en de instrumenten voor onze crisisgereedstelling. Vervolgens vertellen twee CdP’s over hun persoonlijke ervaring met recente crises. Aan de hand van een aantal prikkelende stellingen volgt hierna een discussie met het publiek over de verwachtingen en de behoeften van Den Haag en van de posten ten aanzien van onze crisisgereedstelling. Er is dus ruim gelegenheid voor jou als deelnemer om mee te praten over dit onderwerp, dat in de komende jaren alleen maar in belang zal toenemen. Aarzel niet en schrijf je in!

 

Donderdag 2 februari 2023 / Thursday 2 February 2023

20. Voorkomen is beter dan genezen: Early Warning, Early Action in de praktijk
Tijd: 09:15-10:30
Taal Nederlands
Toegankelijk voor: BZ-intern
Event: Online

Early warning, early action. Het klinkt simpel: als je vroeg signaleert waar conflicten uit kunnen breken, dan kun je eerder in actie komen om het conflict vroegtijdig te beslechten. Juist in een wereld die in snel tempo verandert. Maar wanneer en hoe signaleer je dan ‘tijdig’ dat het mis gaat? En hoe zet je dit dan om in een actie? En wat is dan een actie? En nog belangrijker: hoe werkt dat bij BZ? Op deze vragen gaat Bob Deen, BN’er tegen wil en dank, nader in, samen met collega’s van DVB en het Data Competence Centre. Bob heeft jaren op dit thema gewerkt voor de OVSE, en deelt graag zijn ervaringen. Is early warning voor jouw werk relevant? Zorg dan dat je bij deze sessie bent.

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21. Foresight and the Year 2023: Out of Order? (with M)
Time: 11:00-12:00
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Hybrid

During the launch of this new ESA-foresight product, we will look at the main trends and events that could shape 2023. Understanding those is vital for delivering on our foreign policy priorities and to identify opportunities for new partnerships. This horizon scan has been established with input from almost 100 colleagues around the world. We will discuss the findings with Minister Wopke Hoekstra and Florence Gaub (Visiting Professor at the College of Europe, and Founder and President of think tank Futurate Institute). Then, we will open to floor to BZ-colleagues in The Hague and at our missions abroad to share their thoughts and insights.

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22. Dealing with changing perspectives of the Dutch role in slavery
Time: 14:00-15:30
Language: English
Registration open for: NL MFA internal (colleagues in The Hague and at Embassies only) and invitees
Event: Online

During the commemoration year in 2023, we will reflect on the history of slavery throughout the Kingdom. This occurs 150 years after the actual abolition of slavery in the then Dutch colonies in 1873. That is when the period of 10 years of state supervision, which had been instituted after slavery had been abolished by law on July 1, 1863, in Surinam and the Caribbean islands, then colonies of the Kingdom of the Netherlands. We also commemorate that people from Asia were subjected to hard labour under contract in Surinam under Dutch colonial rule, in which patterns from slavery were often still present. Contract workers from Asia were also employed in the Cape Colony in what is now South Africa.

The painful past of slavery has also shaped our current society and is therefore a history that touches us all. It is a past that continues to effect the present in ways that people still experience in their daily lives, for example in the form of discrimination and racism. There is, therefore, a demand for enhancing our knowledge on the subject and a need to acknowledge this past. The commemorative year provides an important impetus to this end, which will be followed through with other initiatives. For example with a new National Slavery Museum in Amsterdam, which is currently in development. The history of transatlantic slavery is a starting point for the museum, with attention to, among other things, Indian-Oceanic slavery. In terms of content, the museum will facilitate reflection through art, education, knowledge and research, and provide a human rights context.

This session is a co-production of ICE and DWH. The focus is on questions and discussion, after introductory remarks by the panelists. In what ways will the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the representations abroad be involved in the commemoration? How do we deal with this sensitive history nationally and internationally?

Opening:

• Dewi van de Weerd – Ambassador International Cultural Cooperation and dir. ICE

Speakers:

• John Leerdam and Peggy Brandon – Quartermasters (intendant) of the future National Slavery Museum
• Sylvia Vollenhoven – South-African writer, award-winning journalist, filmmaker and playwright (i.a. Krotoa: Eva van de Kaap - Volksoperahuis Amsterdam), Professor of Practice at the University of Johannesburg.
• René Koekkoek – Historian at the University of Utrecht covering citizenship, sovereignty, slavery, empire, reparations, and historical injustice. 

Moderator:

• Kathleen Ferrier – Chair Dutch UNESCO Commission and former Dutch Member of Parliament.

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23. The Consequences of the global debt crisis: Another lost decade?
Time: 16:00-17:30
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

Sometimes things need to go horribly wrong to remind us what we have to lose. The debt crisis unfolding in Sri Lanka teaches us how much we stand to lose. Where poverty levels have steadily declined in the country, the country hit a financial wall and defaulted on its debts. The result is that its poverty rate doubled within a year, from 13.1% to 25.6%. With setbacks of this magnitude, the question arises if this is part of a larger trend or if it is an isolated case? Unfortunately, it looks like the former. Many countries already have a high risk of debt distress, and it may even get worse as around 69 low- and middle income countries will have to increase debt repayments by 35% next year, up to a whopping $62 billion! With so much money flowing back to creditors, how much money will remain to fund vital services such as health and education, or climate change? It certainly seems that the system is out of order and in need of fixing.

Join us for a discussion, accessible for everyone, with Jeromin Zettelmeyer, head of Brussels-based think tank Bruegel, and Hamid Rashid, Chief at the UN Global Economic Monitoring Branch, about the causes, effects and maybe even solutions to the global debt crisis.

Vrijdag 3 februari 2023 / Friday 3 February 2023

24. EU: Building a new engine for Europe
Time: 09:30-11:00
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

EU reform is back on the agenda. EU engagement forces the EU to think about a new institutional architecture that is able to work for 36 members or maybe more. What kind of EU can that be? One that is still efficient and legitimate? In this session we will discuss a possible agenda for EU reform. An agenda that strengthens the EU and makes it ready for the 21st century, but also an agenda that will pass the test of ratification. What could such a major reform look like?

Speakers:

• Dr. Nicolai von Ondarza (Head of EU/Europe Research Division, Stiftung Wissenschaft und Politik, Berlin)
• Prof. Dr. Maria Demertzis, Senior Fellow Bruegel (Brussels) and Professor of Economic Policy at the School of Transnational Governance (European University Institute, Florence)

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7. Mensenrechten, Democratie & Internationale Rechtsorde (NIEUWE DATUM)
Tijd: 13:00-14:30
Taal: Nederlands
Toegankelijk voor: Rijksbreed
Event: Online

Engageren in een gure wereld op ons nieuwe Nederlandse ‘Mensenrechten-, rechtsorde- en democratiebeleid’: hoe doen we dat en wat moet er anders?”

De wereld verandert, met grote gevolgen voor de individuele rechten van de mens. Wereldwijd zijn burgers het slachtoffer van de verminderende naleving van mensenrechten, machtspolitiek en geweld bedreigen de internationale rechtsorde en de democratische vooruitgang van de laatste decennia stagneert. Het kabinet ziet daarom de noodzaak om het verband tussen de mensenrechten, democratie en internationale rechtsorde helder te laten weerklinken in het mensenrechtenbeleid. ‘Pushback’ en ‘backsliding’ van democratie, mensenrechten en de rechtstaat zijn aan de orde van de dag op vrijwel alle belangrijke deelterreinen en in alle regio’s van de wereld. Hoe zorgen we er voor dat ons nieuwe mensenrechten-, democratie- en rechtsordebeleid effect heeft, ook in deze veranderende wereld? En welke rol kan ons postennet hierbij spelen?

Met DGPZ, Tanja Gonggrijp (PV Raad van Europa), To Tjoelker (CdP Cotonou) en Christine Pirenne (CdP San José).

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25. Keynote: Fiona Hill on Russia
Time: 15:00-16:30
Language: English
Registration open for: participants from all Dutch ministries
Event: Online

The Russian invasion of Ukraine is of course the most pressing recent violation of the rules-based global order and a geopolitical turning point that generates crucial questions for the future. We are delighted to be able to discuss this challenge with key-note speaker Fiona Hill. Fiona Hill is currently Senior Fellow at the Brookings Institute and is one of America’s leading Russia experts. She has studied Russian politics for decades at a.i. Harvard University, St. Andrews and the Eurasia Foundation, and co-authored an intellectual biography of mr. Putin (‘Mr Putin, Operative in the Kremlin’, 2015). From 2017 to 2019 she served as a deputy assistant on Russia Policy to president Trump, and before that worked in both the Obama and Bush administrations. Ms. Hill is a frequently sought public commentator on Russian and American politics, having gained national celebrity with her Congressional testimony during the first impeachment trial against president Trump. Last year, ms. Hill published “There is Nothing for You Here: Finding Opportunity in the 21^st Century”, reflecting on her own remarkable biography of growing up as a miner’s daughter from Northern England to become a key advisor at the White House, and advocating expanded opportunity in Western societies to prevent an authoritarian swing that could rival modern Russia’s. Ms. Hill will give a key note introduction, after which there is opportunity for Q&A with the audience.