History
Since its creation in 1923, The Hague Academy of International Law has occupied premises at the Peace Palace. Next to the Peace Palace building the Academy’s facilities include the Academy Hall built for international conferences, the Peace Palace Library as well as further administrative accommodations. The new buildings were planned and realized by architects Michael Wilford and Manuel Schupp. Alongside The Hague Academy of International Law the Peace Palace houses highest judicial institutions such as the International Court of Justice and the Bureau of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. In the context of the movement for the establishment of peace through law, the idea of creating an Academy of International Law was mooted at the Hague Conference in 1907 (having previously been voiced by the Institut de Droit International as early as 1873). The Dutch Government took up the idea, and the International Law Association in turn examined the question. The Dutch Lawyer Tobias M. C. Asser proposed a plan that envisaged more or less what the Academy was to become, with courses held from July to October. Asser received the Nobel Peace Prize in 1911 and contributed a part of the prize money to the Academy; and the Carnegie Endowment for Peace provided a valuable contribution to get it started. The inauguration of the Academy was planned for October 1914. But World War I broke out, and preparations could not be resumed until 1921. When the Summer Courses started on 14 July 1923, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, 353 students originating from 31 countries attended, of whom 35 were women.
Today, the Academy is a centre for research and teaching in public and private international law, with the aim of further scientific and advanced studies of the legal aspects of international relations. The UN General Assembly regularly refers to the “valuable contribution” that the Academy “continues to make to the United Nations Program of Assistance in the Teaching, Study, Dissemination and Wider Appreciation of International Law”. The Academy was awarded the Wateler Peace Prize (1936, 1950), the Félix Houphouët-Boigny Peace Prize (1992), the order of Rio Branco, Brazil (1999), and the Medal of the Royal Institute of European Studies, Spain (2000). The Academy has been nominated for the Nobel Peace Prize 34 times between 1915 and 1956. The Academy is part of the Hague Academic Coalition.
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