The Hague, the ICC, and the economic benefits of being a centre for justice

“Dutch goverment wants to put the home of the international criminal court on the map as the justice capital of the world

"Send him to The Hague" is the chant adopted by activists the world over when discussing their least favourite war criminal. Yet, although the international criminal court (ICC) has been around for 10 years, it's only in the last few months that building work has started on its permanent location.

The Dutch were remarkably slow in catching on to the potential benefits of such a high profile for their sleepy seaside administrative town, even though they parade the country's historical links to the 17th Century father of international law, Hugo Grotius, with pride. Now they are full of ways to cash in on their identity as justice capital of the world.

In the run up to the negotiations over the ICC in Rome, the Dutch went all out for the right to host the new institution. Their diplomats played a version of "total football" the likes of which have not been seen since Johan Cruyff captained the Dutch soccer squad in the 1970's and as a result The Hague was selected as host city without any competition.”