120th Anniversary of the Hague Conference on Private International Law

It is indeed in 1893 that was created the Hague Conference on Private International Law, "a melting pot of different legal traditions" which has developed and services conventions which respond to global needs in many areas, including international legal co-operation and litigation.

73 states are currently members of the Hague Conference as well as the European Union as a Regional Economic Integration Organization. Since its inception, The Hague Conference has created 39 conventions and protocols. One of them was developed jointly with the UIHJ: the Hague Convention of 15 November 1965 on the service abroad of judicial and extrajudicial documents in civil and commercial matters. Since then the UIHJ and the Hague Conference have developed ever closer ties.

The UIHJ regularly attends meetings of the Council on General Affairs and Policy of the Hague Conference. Personal relationships have developed with senior representatives of this great organization and in particular with its Secretary General, Hans van Loon, the current deputy Secretary General Christophe Bernasconi, and its First Secretary Philippe Lortie.

The 120th anniversary of the Hague Conference was held at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands), "the international city for Peace and Justice”.  Keynotes addresses were presented by H.E. Sasana Ruiz Cerutti, former Minister of Foreign Affairs of Argentina, and H.E. Rimsky Yuen Kwowk-keung, Secretary of Justice of the Special Administrative Region of Hong Kong, two host states to The Hague Conference's Regional Offices in Latin America and the Asia Pacific.

In a panel entitled "Reflections on the Hague Conference at 140 - 20 years forward”, various experts were invited to discuss the future of the organization and other international organizations with which it works.

The ceremony took a particularly moving turn as it marked the departure of Mr van Loon, for a well-deserved retirement. The Council particularly “extended its heartfelt and sincere gratitude to Secretary General Hans van Loon for his outstanding achievements and contributions to the work and the development of the Hague Conference”. A tribute was paid to him in the form of an interview conducted by H.E. Fausto Pocar, former President and current judge of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia. A Liber Amicorum was given to him.

The UIHJ is associated with these warm words of praise and wishes to thank Mr van Loon deeply for the excellent relations that have united our two organizations for the duration of his term that began in 1996. Leo Netten in particular sent a personal message of thanks to his compatriot wishing him a great and long retirement.

As of 1 July 2013, Christophe Bernasconi, the current deputy Secretary General of the Hague Conference, will take over from his illustrious predecessor. The UIHJ congratulates Mr Bernasconi and is particularly pleased with this appointment. Christophe Bernasconi knows the UIHJ inside out. He has participated in many events of the UIHJ for nearly fifteen years, the latest being the Congress