 On the second day of his working visit to the Netherlands, the President of the Republic of Slovenia, Dr Danilo Türk, met with a group of Dutch citizens of Slovene origin, members of the Committee for the Recognition of the Republic of Slovenia, on whom he conferred the Order for Merits for their contributions in acquainting the Dutch general public and political sphere about the efforts made by the Republic of Slovenia on its path towards international recognition. |
 President Türk then visited the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague where he had a meeting with ICJ President Hisashi Owada, with whom he discussed the development of international law and its role in international relations. President Türk also met with members of the court, wrapping up his visit with an address to the International Court of Justice. |
|
|
 In his address, President Türk pointed out that the International Court of Justice in The Hague is not only the world's highest court of law, but also a symbol of the highest human aspirations, epitomising the historical human longing towards an international order based on human reason and the rule of law. He underlined that many of the decisions taken in the court had become milestones in the evolution of the organised international community. Jurists, diplomats and political leaders drew inspiration from the judgments and advisory opinions of the International Court of Justice, from the message of justice and fairness expressed in the Court's decisions, as well as in the separate opinions of its judges.
President Türk emphasised in particular the importance of the principle of sovereign equality for the peaceful settlement of disputes between states and the principle of equity as one of the fundamental principles of the international law. He recalled that a wide range of international law issues that arose in the wake of the dissolution of the former Yugoslavia had been addressed. In this context, he especially highlighted the role of the International Court of Justice in The Hague that provided wise guidance on and carefully safeguarded the principle of the sovereign equality of successor states. President Türk also touched on Slovenia's experience in the solving of the maritime and land border dispute with Croatia that is to be resolved by an arbitration tribunal in accordance with the bilateral Arbitration Agreement that was concluded recently. |
 The experiences of the past two decades have demonstrated that fairness holds a significant and creative potential that can be translated into a wide variety of agreements. As examples, he cited the development of international criminal law, the international law of human rights and the decisions of the Security Council of the United Nations that encapsulate the idea of fairness.
According to President Türk, there is still much to be done in vast areas of international law, such as fair trading arrangements for developing countries, new and fair arrangements in the field of environmental protection and the reforms of large international institutions, to ensure greater fairness of their decisions for the benefit of humankind as a whole. |