Sightseeing before UNITAR Program

We arrived in The Hague, known as the city of International Peace and Justice for a United Nations program. This week we will join participants from Kazakhstan, Australia, United Kingdom, Italy, United States, Philippines, India, Poland, Finland, Ecuador, Lebanon, Saudi Arabia, Cameroon, Indonesia, and Spain.

Janice and I will be expanding our knowledge on international affairs, develop core diplomatic skills and engage in activities with The Hague-UN based agencies.
Our goals are to:
• be able to explain key components of the United Nations System and its agencies.
• To familiarize ourselves with the Hague as a city of peace and justice.
• Apply core skills and techniques of common diplomatic practice.
• Develop critical knowledge for careers in international organizations.
• Adapt values and principles enshrined in the United Nations Charter.

My interest peaked during Covid-19 when I took the inaugural UNITAR Human Rights Council Training Program. The certificate course ran in conjunction with the UN Human Rights Council in Geneva. Our incredible instructor was Mr. Julian Caletti, an expert on the UN System and UN Career Development. He has been a native German professional at the United Nations Institute for Training and Research since 2016.

Julian is a master conceptualizer. The programs he runs are powerful as well as transformative.
(It’s astonishing that Julian is fluent in German, English, Spanish, French, Portuguese and Mandarin Chinese).

Julian had never been to the United States before and in April 2022, he decided to visit the UN headquarters in NY, and stay at our home in Baltimore with us overnight. He has become a treasured friend. Julian is the Director of The Hague and Geneva UNITAR based Immersion Programs that Janice and I are currently enrolled in.

Day 1 In The Hague

We went for a stroll through the center of The Hague and by sheer “coincidence” came across reviewing stands. We walked up to a metal barricade and inquired what was going on. Andre, a local citizen informed us in broken English that the King of the Netherlands was to appear during the annual Veteran’s Day Observance Parade (Nederlandse Veteranendag). We stood in amazement for three memorable hours as we witnessed numerous military bands and several flybys (18 historic and modern aircraft flew over). Admittedly, the weather was hot but we seemed to be more affected by the calming warmth of knowing that so many retired military officers and soldiers and the featured UN peacekeepers were marching in peace instead of in war! We walked over to the area the King was appearing. From a distance we saw his back draped in a dark suit jacket but what we will remember was the clamoring applause to acknowledge his presence in the throngs of people patiently paying homage to their veterans.

If you have never been to a military parade this 4 minute video is your rare opportunity!

Day 2 In The Hague

Janice and I walked to the Mauritshuis Museum. The museum is noted for its Dutch and Flemish paintings from the 15th to the 17th century.
The temperature hit 87 and the air quality was “insufficient” but inside the museum the staring eyes of the artist Johannes Vermeer’s The Girl With a Pearl Earring (1665) and the graphic (for its time) Anatomy Lesson of Dr. Nicolaes Tulp (1632) by Rembrandt (painted at age 25) preoccupied our thoughts.

On our return from the Mauritshuis we walked past the Haag’s Historic Museum. With only an hour and twelve minutes remaining before closing for the day we decided to venture inside. To say we were surprised by the creative layout and contents of the museum is an understatement. With the growing relevance and appreciation of diversity we were captivated by the recorded history of migrants that included the formulated opinions and accepted norms of those who came before them and more significantly the cultural effect they had on them.

The Education of a Virgin
Artist: Micharlina Wartier
It shows the young Miriam (Mary) with her mother Channah (Anna) and her father (Yehoyachim) Joachim.

A lavish golden coach used by Dutch royalty was put out of commission because it was assessed to be racist and colonialist.

I drew a yellow circle on this picture where Janice and I placed a personal message (amongst thousands) from Destination Peace International.

We learned that 8,000 Jews were murdered or committed suicide in The Hague and a tiny remnant of 2,000 survived by hiding or escaping. The museum detailed the history of the Jews in The Hague during World War II.

The last display solicits you to leave a written reaction to what you experienced that are strung out on rods.