Extracurricular Activities

Attendees of the Summer and Winter Courses benefit from the significant resources of The Hague as the world’s capital of international law.

In addition to the courses, seminars, and Directed Studies that constitute the core of each three-week session, the Academy organizes several other activities for its attendees. The purpose of these is, first and foremost, to supplement their knowledge of international law with practical and concrete insights, giving them a better grasp of its effects and scope.
Secondly, they help each attendee to establish a network of friends among the often more than 100 different nationalities present. Both of these elements have proven successful in making their stay at the Academy one which they will long remember.

With this in mind:

  1. The Academy organizes afternoon lectures at its premises on the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration, the various international criminal courts and tribunals and other international legal organizations based in The Hague. The lectures are given by members of these institutions and are followed by Q&A sessions;
  2. The Academy also organizes visits to these institutions, allowing attendees to discover their premises and to understand how they function in practice, in particular by attending hearings;
  3. When the International Court of Justice hands down a judgment or advisory opinion during the session, arrangements are made to allow attendees to follow this event in real time in the most appropriate way;
  4. At the request of the Academy, many ambassadors based in The Hague agree to receive groups of attendees to explain to them what the role and activities of an embassy are and to give them direct insight into the diplomatic profession, and the concrete role that diplomacy plays in the conduct of international relations;
  5. Sales of legal publications are held each course week in the Academy’s entrance hall. These comprise books from different legal publishers as well as volumes of the Collected Courses of the Academy, offered at a special discounted price, and its Pocketbooks series.

Finally, a variety of social activities, including welcome drinks and a (beach) party, are offered to the attendees to make the experience at the Academy complete.