Jayden Kyryluk [BA/22], (3L) met with Judge Kimberly Prost [LLB/81] at The Hague while studying international law in the Netherlands.
A Meeting with ICC Judge Kimberly Prost
Jayden Kyryluk [BA/22] is a third-year law student working as a Research Assistant for the Desautels Business Law Accelerator at the University of Manitoba’s Faculty of Law. He is currently spending this term on an exchange program, studying international law at Radboud University in Nijmegen, Netherlands. On the same day that his classmates in Winnipeg were meeting with Supreme Court of Canada Judge Sheilah Martin, Kyryluk was shaking hands with Judge Kimberly Prost [LLB/81] in The Hague. Kyryluk shared the story of meeting the famous Robson Hall Class of 1981 alum on the Desautels blog.
On October 21, 2025, I took a short train ride from Nijmegen to The Hague. A ninety-minute train ride across the Netherlands felt surreal; for a Canadian, it’s like crossing a province before lunch. Much like home, however, you can find flat fields of various crops, distant farmhouses, and grazing cows speckled throughout the countryside.
Visiting The Hague, often called the global centre of international law, certainly piqued my judicial curiosity. Yet I was taking this train ride for one reason: to meet Robson Hall alumna and International Criminal Court (ICC) Judge Kimberly Prost. The moment I learned I would be studying in the Netherlands, I knew I had to meet Judge Prost. She has reached the pinnacle of international law, and for someone interested in the field like me, meeting her would be like a young Canadian meeting an NHL superstar. After a period of relative dormancy during the Cold War, international criminal law experienced a renaissance in the 1990s. Judge Prost played a pivotal role in that resurgence and in the very institutions that have since become subjects of my own research and writing. After a few emails and with the assistance of Robson Hall’s Director of Professional Development, Trina McFadyen [LLB/00], a meeting was arranged.
International Criminal Court building. Photo by Jayden Kyryluk.
I arrived at the ICC in the afternoon, and I quickly noticed the beauty of the building. In contrast to the Neo-Renaissance International Court of Justice, a 35-minute walk away, the ICC is modern. Five glass towers rise from a rectangular base, encircled by a moat and patches of grass reminiscent of Manitoba’s prairie fields. Draped in vines and framed by water, the building felt peaceful. One could say the feeling mirrored the Court’s mission itself.
I met with Judge Prost upon arriving at the ICC, and we had a wonderful conversation about Winnipeg, international law, and some lessons she has learnt along the way. We laughed to discover we’d grown up across the Red River from one another, no more than a five-minute drive. “What a small world,” we said, as we realized we were also graduates of sibling high schools. It was apparent we came from similar roots.
Her most memorable advice was sincere: say yes to opportunities as they come. “I never planned this career path,” she said, explaining that it unfolded through one opportunity after another. Judge Prost is deeply proud to come from Winnipeg and credits her upbringing in the city as a significant factor in her success. Growing up in Winnipeg’s welcoming, multicultural environment facilitated a seamless transition between international institutions, including the Commonwealth Secretariat, the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia, the United Nations, and now the ICC.