The Inícia case concluded at the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes (ICSID) on 13 November 2019 shows that international arbitration institutions may have a significant role even in the EU Member States’ disputes concerning the cross-border acquisition of agricultural lands. Taking the regulation concerning cross-border acquisition into consideration, the last decade was extremely eventful: (i) Following the expiration of transitional periods, the new Member States were obliged to adopt new, EU law-conform national rules concerning the cross-border acquisition of agricultural lands. (ii) The European Commission began to generally and comprehensively assess the national land law of the new Member States. (iii) The FAO issued the Voluntary Guidelines on the ‘Responsible Governance of Tenure of land, fisheries and forests in the context of national food security’ (VGGT), which is the first comprehensive, global instrument on this topic elaborated in the framework of intergovernmental negotiations. (iv) Several legal documents, which can be regarded as soft law, concerning the acquisition of agricultural lands have been issued by certain institutions of the EU; these soft law documents at EU level are as rare as the VGGT at international level. (v) The EU initiated numerous international investment treaties, regulations of which also affect numerous aspects of the cross-border acquisition of agricultural lands. (vi) The Brexit and its effect on the cross-border acquisition of agricultural lands is also an open issue. Taking the above-mentioned development into consideration, the Inícia case may have a significant role in the future of the cross-border transaction among EU Member States and beyond.

Historians outside of Hungary often emphasize that the post-World War I peace conference did not erase the Austro-Hungarian Monarchy from the map. The Peace Conference merely confirmed the decision previously made by the peoples of Central Europe over the Monarchy. But is it really true that the issue of nationality and the self-determination of the peoples were the forces that tore the Monarchy apart? And was the Hungarian national tragedy of the newly drawn borders due to the irresponsible policies of Prime Minister Mihály Károlyi and the reckless policy of the Hungarian Soviet Republic? In the following paper I express the view that the fate of the Monarchy was primarily determined by the (fundamentally) changed role of the Monarchy in the European status quo, and contend that the issue pertaining to the establishment of Hungary’s new frontiers was determined by the overwhelming military might of the opposing forces.

De studie beoogt aan de hand van 87 dossiers van gezag- en omgangsonderzoeken door de Raad voor de Kinderbescherming (RvdK) meer inzicht te krijgen in situaties waarin de ene ouder de andere ouder in het kader van een (echt)scheiding beschuldigt van seksueel misbruik van kinderen. De dossiers zijn gekoppeld aan bijbehorende civielrechtelijke beschikkingen en het Justitiële Documentatiesysteem. Hierdoor is de problematiek van verschillende kanten belicht. Uit het onderzoek blijkt dat het over het algemeen complexe zaken zijn, waarin naast de BSKM nog meer problemen zijn binnen de gezinnen. De aard van het vermeende seksueel misbruik is ernstig, en de kinderen gemiddeld jong. Regelmatig is de beschuldiging geuit bij politie en hulpverlening vóór de rechtszaak en het raadsonderzoek. De rechtszaken betreffen over het algemeen procedures omtrent gezag, verdeling van zorg- en opvoedingstaken en omgang. Vrijwel nooit is vast te stellen of het seksueel kindermisbruik heeft plaatsgevonden. Slechts drie ouders zijn veroordeeld voor het misbruik. Eén vader is vrijgesproken, twee vaders zijn niet nader vervolgd omdat zij ten onrechte als verdachte waren aangemerkt. Civiele rechters die beslissingen moeten nemen over de kinderen staan voor een dubbel dilemma: het al dan niet serieus nemen van de beschuldiging kan schadelijke gevolgen hebben voor kinderen, en daarnaast kan, vanwege de onzekerheid over de gegrondheid, een beslissing tot nader onderzoek ook schadelijk zijn omdat dit het proces verlengt. De RvdK adviseert de rechtbank regelmatig om definitieve beslissingen omtrent de kinderen aan te houden, in afwachting van bijvoorbeeld hulpverlening of een ondertoezichtstelling. Het is echter doorgaans niet de waarschijnlijkheid van het SKM, maar de gevolgen van de beschuldiging zelf waar de RvdK zijn zorgen regelmatig over uit. Hierdoor lijkt het dat de beschuldiging, en niet het potentiële misbruik, een katalysator is voor onwenselijke gevolgen voor de kinderen.
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This study aims to provide insight into allegations of child sexual abuse in the context of divorce and related proceedings by reviewing 87 files concerning investigations by the Dutch child protective service (CPS). These files are linked to the court rulings about the families in question, as well as the criminal record database. This makes it possible to look at this problem from various angles. The study shows that the cases are generally complex, in which aside from the allegations of sexual abuse, other issues existed within the families. The nature of the alleged abuses were serious, and the children were relatively young. Often an allegation was made to the police and social work organizations before the civil proceeding and investigation by the CPS. The proceedings generally concerned matters relating to the custody of and access to the children. It was very rarely possible to determine whether the child sexual abuse had actually taken place. Only three fathers were convicted of the abuses concerned. One father was acquitted and two fathers were wrongfully identified as suspects. Civil judges who have to make decisions about the children are faced with a double dilemma: firstly, the decision of whether or not to take the allegation seriously can have damaging consequences for the children involved. Secondly, the choice to proceed with further investigation and aid within the family, due to uncertainty as to the veracity of the allegation(s) in question, can lead to a prolonged process that damages the child. The study shows that the CPS often advises the court to postpone definitive decisions about the children so that social work organizations can provide more information on the matter at hand. However, the study also shows that it is generally not the potential abuse, but the allegation itself that the CPS expresses concern about.

In less than two decades, security sector reform (SSR) has crystallized as an organizing framework guiding international engagement in countries affected by violent conflict. SSR is a normative proposition, grounded in democratic governance and human security, and a concrete set of practices. As such, it represents an exemplary case of the dialectic between scholarship and practice and an outstanding vantage point from which to interrogate this nexus. In this article, I explore the dynamic interplay between theory and practice in SSR. In particular, I show how the basic tenets of conflict transformation – present in the first generation of scholarship on SSR – were sidelined in SSR practices. Practical experiences led to strong critiques of the ‘conceptual-contextual’ divide and, eventually, to a second generation of critical scholarship on SSR that has begun to coalesce. I conclude by noting the parallels between recent scholarship on SSR and the insights captured in earlier work on conflict transformation.