Opening Justice Matters conferentie, 7 mei 2026

Dear guests,

Today, it is my honour to welcome you to The Hague for the Justice Matters conference. We are grateful to the The Hague Institute for Innovation of Law for organizing this conference. For more than one hundred and twenty-five years, our city has been a meeting place for everyone labouring for peace, justice, and international co-operation. But in today’s world, which is becoming increasingly unstable, this mission is more urgent than ever.

We are faced with numbers that are nothing short of alarming. For the twelfth time in sixteen years, world peace has decreased. In only five years, levels of conflict have doubled. Fifty countries are currently being ravaged by extreme or turbulent violence. This is not a temporary crisis. This is the structural failure of systems that should be protecting people.

And at the heart of that failure is a lack of justice.

Too often, the international response to conflict is dominated by military strategies, cease-fires, and diplomatic negotiations. But the absence of justice – of fair, accessible and legitimate ways of resolving conflicts – is given little attention. Instability does not arise without reason. It grows where people are being excluded, abused, or ignored; where corruption takes the place of responsibility; where laws serve power instead of people.

Stability and justice are not two separate goals. They are closely linked. Without justice, stability is nothing more than an illusion: fragile, enforced, and short-lived. Without stability, justice remains a promise that will never be fulfilled.

This is exactly why local governments play such a crucial role. Municipalities are closest to their residents. We are the first to see where systems fall short, where trust is crumbling, where people are not feeling heard. And we can be the first to step in and take action.

Local governments can make justice tangible. Not in abstract terms, but in people’s everyday reality. By investing in accessible legal help centres, in neighbourhood mediation, in transparent decision-making, in fighting discrimination, and in strengthening social cohesion. By ensuring that everyone – regardless of background, income, or status – feels seen and protected.

In The Hague, we have been working on this for years, together with our international partners, social organizations, and our many, diverse communities. But today’s challenges require more. They require co-operation that crosses borders, knowledge-sharing, a world-wide strengthening of local institutions. For when states collapse, and citizens are experiencing violence from armed groups as well as from their own government, this violence never remains local. It will always spread – destabilizing regions, and affecting us all.

That is why this conference is so important. Justice Matters invites us to engage in courageous conversations. What does true justice mean when contexts are so fragile? What do justice and laws look like in a polarized world? Who decides what is just and fair? And how can we make sure that justice is not just a moral ideal, but a practical instrument for bringing about lasting peace?

I encourage you not to avoid these questions, but to face them together. For if there is one lesson The Hague can offer the world, it is this: peace begins with justice. And justice begins close to home.

I wish you all an inspiring and productive conference.

Thank you.