The Netherlands to pay ICC rent until the end of 2012

The Netherlands will continue to pay the rent for the International Criminal Court in The Hague until the end of this year, Trouw reports on Thursday.

The rental agreement expires in July, but foreign minister Uri Rosenthal has agreed to extend this by six months, the paper said. Rent for the ICC’s premises costs €6m a year.
The Netherlands agreed to pay the rent on the court’s offices for a 10-year period after its foundation. From that date, the court’s founding partners are supposed to share the cost.
New building
The ICC is currently housed in a building formerly used by telecoms group KPN. The building is now too small but a new court complex, close to the high security Scheveningen prison, will not be completed until 2015.
Newspaper Trouw said last November the relationship between the Netherlands and the International Criminal Court in The Hague cooled because of the rent dispute and the difficulty of getting visas for witnesses.
This particularly affects people who have to leave their home country immediately because they and their families would be in danger, the paper said at the time.