The Hague Initiative for International Cooperation (thinc.) is an initiative dedicated to the promotion of the Rule of Law in international relations to advance peace and security, friendly relations among nations, and the peaceful resolution of conflicts. The focus of our initiative is the Israel-Palestine conflict.

Our goal is to help politicians and policy-makers to make informed decisions on the fair and non-discriminatory application of international law to the Israel-Palestine conflict, and, in doing so, to promote the peaceful resolution of disputes based on UN Charter principles such as the sovereign equality of states, friendly relations between nations, and the Rule of Law.

thinc. is an independent research foundation.The statutory seat of thinc. is The Hague – City of Peace and Justice.

thinc. has the ANBI status.

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Oct152020
Blogs

Serbia Agrees to Move its Embassy to Jerusalem; Kosovo Agrees to Recognize Israel

In a remarkable ceremony in the White House on 4th September 2020, presided over by US President Trump, Serbia and Kosovo signed agreements to normalize their economic relations. The US-brokered agreements were hailed by the US President as “historic”. In reality they do not constitute a comprehensive “normalization” agreement, but resemble little more than an agreement to carry out a list of previously-agreed projects.

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Oct122020
Commentaries

Advocate General: Ban on Ritual Slaughter Contravenes European Law

On 10 September Advocate General Hogan delivered his much anticipated Opinion in an important case concerning ritual slaughter pending before the Court of Justice of the EU. The case concerns the judicial review of a Decree by the Flemish Region that requires animals to be stunned prior to slaughter to reduce their suffering, thereby effectively prohibiting the slaughter of animals according to Jewish and Muslim rites. The case was brought before the Belgian Constitutional Court, which decided to stay the proceedings and request the CJEU to give a preliminary ruling on the compatibility of the Flemish legislation with European law. AG Hogan suggests that the Flemish Law proscribing slaughter of animals without stunning, including religious slaughter rites, is incompatible with EU law. He proposes that Member States should be allowed to adopt stricter rules than those contained in EU law on animal slaughter, but the prescribed derogation protecting religious rites must be protected.

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Oct62020
Blogs

A Layperson’s Guide to Some Basic Concepts in International Law and the Israeli-Palestinian Conflict

International law can be confusing even for lawyers and law students who are trying to grasp its basic concepts. What do terms like “conquest”, “belligerent occupation”, “annexation”, “statehood”, “non-self-governing territory” and “the right to self-determination” mean? To the average non-lawyer, these terms might sound like a completely foreign language. In this article, we hope to provide a simple layperson’s guide to some basic concepts in international law, and their relevance to the Israeli-Palestinian conflict.

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