CILC stories provide outsiders with a unique insight into a project organisation that has been tirelessly promoting international legal cooperation and rule of law capacity building since 1985. With global reach and local footprint, the stories reflect what CILC does, how it does this in practice and why it does what it does. Key people from inside CILC and knowledgeable outsiders shine their light on where it all began, how CILC has developed and reinvented over the years and why it continues to remain relevant today.
The series of stories has been published since 2015, as part of celebrating 30 years since the establishment of our organisation. The interviews were conducted by Marjolein C. Groot.
Inside CILC: An EU seconded prosecutor in the Balkans
“The real difference you make is by creating connections. Prosecutors in the Balkans will get to know their counterparts in EU member states. That is something that will remain after the project has ended. To me, in the long run, this is the way for international...
Inside CILC: Improving legal education in Palestine
Unlike previous ones, this CILC story takes place on the road. It’s the story of a journey through the West Bank and East-Jerusalem, accompanying CILC director Willem van Nieuwkerk on his first steps in a new project on legal education. The Palestine mission agenda is...
Inside CILC: The art of legislative capacity building
“During the meeting, demonstrations were taking place outside. The first thing the Speaker of Parliament asked us was how he could put an end to these. I replied that to me, that was a difficult question indeed. After all, people do have a right to freedom of speech...
Inside CILC: Looking ahead
“You can bring to other countries what you consider of importance and ascertain whether it is of benefit to the receiving country. However, you ought to return with something, too. For example, it can be of quite some benefit if a judge involved in Dutch social...
Inside CILC: Stories from an enforcement agent about capacity building in civil enforcement (2/2)
Reinventing the wheel One of the CILC projects Uitdehaag proudly recalls is the Balkans Enforcement Reform Project (BERP), which took place in the Western Balkans and Albania in 2008-2011. In all of the project countries, he and his CILC colleague Eric Vincken often...
Inside CILC: Stories from an enforcement agent about capacity building in civil enforcement (1/2)
"Most attention in legal capacity building projects is paid to improving litigation and training the judiciary and legal professions. Often, one forgets that once there is a judgment, you can frame it and put it proudly on your wall, but justice has not yet been...
Inside CILC: On the road with human rights expert Martin Kuijer
“The judge told me this notion of independence I had mentioned was ‘very interesting’. However, he ought to clarify one thing. Did he understand it correctly that it involved that one does not consult with the party bureau first, before ruling a case? Quickly, I...
Inside CILC: Why and where it all began – stories from the ‘founding fathers’ (3/3)
A big Russia-Eastern Europe story Otto: “Three years earlier, the Berlin Wall had fallen, and laws of the Communist bloc countries had to be reformed. Furthermore, the initial bad light in which legal capacity building had been seen had cleared up. Since 1990,...
Inside CILC: Why and where it all began – stories from the ‘founding fathers’ (2/3)
Interview by Marjolein C. Groot, 18 June 2015 ‘Insane’ undertaking The political context of the legal cooperation with Indonesia in the 1980s was not entirely uncomplicated. In the Netherlands there were strong critics of the human rights practices and policies...
Inside CILC: Why and where it all began – stories from the ‘founding fathers’ (1/3)
“After all, for us this legal cooperation has not been a mere project but rather a lifelong commitment: 30 or 40 years down the line it has remained part of our life. It is really something long-term. Perhaps enough to fill a lifetime or two.” In this article, Jan van...
Celebrating 30 years of CILC
On 9 July it became rather crowded in our new office on Spui 1 in The Hague. This was due to seventy-something current and former CILC staff and directors, colleagues, partners and esteemed guests from the Netherlands and abroad coming together to raise a glass to 30...
Inside CILC: legal capacity building as perceived through the eyes of an expert in CILC projects (II)
Strategic choices Jansen strongly advocates for ministries, NGOs, training institutes and the courts of aid-receiving countries to make an ‘ideal agenda of development aid’. “Currently, it’s common practice that all those planes with experts enter a given...
Inside CILC: legal capacity building as perceived through the eyes of an expert in CILC projects (I)
“Legal capacity building is about exchanging expertise with your local counterpart in another country. Subsequently, that country should mirror and reflect these practices and also translate them into its own context and culture. As an expert, you are reflecting on...
Inside CILC – stories from the field on CILC methods and opportunities in legal capacity building (II)
Peer-to-peer mentoring Taktak emphasises that CILC, in order to remain successful and relevant, should continue with its method: perform the role of counterpart and facilitate peer-to-peer mentoring or coaching. “Whereas I would require 100 words to explain...
Inside CILC – stories from the field on CILC methods and opportunities in legal capacity building (I)
“For CILC I want to focus on doing the right things and be a counterpart to peers from both sides. You have the overview of both systems, they often do not. You speak each other’s languages, they often do not. You have insight in both contexts and legal reasoning and...
Inside CILC – Shining some light on its history, activities and impact (II)
Agents of change In the Western Balkans Vincken also came across people who CILC had invested in and who eventually spread the ideas that were planted. Vincken: “For example, we implemented a project financed by the European Commission in Slovenia. It aimed at...
Inside CILC – Shining some light on its history, activities and impact (I)
“Often CILC seems to me more like a film producer, a facilitator, bringing all different parties together and keeping them on track. I perceive the whole process as a movie production, ensuring that all elements come together in the right way and at the right time”....