‘After completing the Master's program Public International Law and International Trade and Investment Law at the University of Amsterdam, I started an internship at the International Law Division of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs. After completing the internship, I was able to start my first job there as a legal officer.

At the International Law Division, we deal with the practice of almost all fields of international law, for instance human rights law, trade and investment law, treaty law, and the law of the sea. In our daily work, we provide legal advice within the Ministry, but also to our embassies abroad and the other countries that are part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands.

We are also responsible for the representation of the Kingdom in international legal fora. This work includes international negotiations and international legal proceedings involving the Netherlands. One example of thereof were the arbitral proceedings between the Netherlands and the Russian Federation relating to the Arctic Sunrise. Looking back, I can say that my studies at the University of Amsterdam gave me a strong basis of the theory of international law and left me well prepared for my first internship and, after that, my first job. ’