One Student's Experience With International Law

Author: Matthew Christ

For the last two weeks the United Nations headquarters in New York City hosted the Ninth Predatory Commission for the International Criminal Court (ICC). Morgan Wilson '04 was there.

Wilson, a member of the Middlebury College chapter of the Model United Nations, found out about the commission from an e-mail sent by Associate Professor of Political Science Mark Williams. Because Wilson was already acquainted with the ICC from a Model United Nations conference she had attended in January at McGill University in Montreal, Quebec, she immediately knew that she wanted to participate.

The ICC was founded by the Rome Statute of 1998 and is designed to serve as an international court for criminal cases subject to international law. The court handles crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide.

At the time of the conference, the court had yet to go into effect because it had not obtained the 60 ratifications needed from participating countries. On April 12, 10 countries ratified the Rome Statute, bumping the ratification total to 66, thus officially establishing the ICC.

Wilson was a delegate for a non-governmental organization, the Independent Student Coalition for the International Student Court, which supports the ICC despite the fact that the United States does not.

Bill Clinton, in the final hours of his presidency, signed the Rome Statute, but failed to give it to the Senate for the two-thirds majority necessary for ratification. When the administration changed, the ICC issue was forgotten.

The current administration does not want to be involved with the ICC for fear that they will be brought to trial for holding prisoners in Guantanomo Bay in the war on terrorism.

"The U.S. reservations are not founded," according to Wilson, because the only way they could be brought to trial in the ICC is if the Security Council of the United Nations prosecuted them, which would be unlikely because the United States has veto power over the Security Council.

During the formal discussions of the commission, Wilson was unable to participate in the debates because she was part of a student delegation. She was, however, able to circulate documents expressing the opinions of her delegation and views of the various speakers.

Out of the numerous committees of the commission, Wilson was asked to serve on one regarding the issue of crimes of aggression, which are crimes that do not fall under the jurisdiction of the ICC. Currently, the Security Council of the United Nations has the jurisdiction over crimes of aggression, but its definition of the offence is very vague.

Because crimes of aggression deal with state action as opposed to the actions of individuals, bringing perpetrators to justice is very difficult because countries could claim they acted out of self-defense. Also, there is an issue as to what member of the country should be punished if convicted — the leadership of the country could have had little to do with the actions of the state. Wilson worked with this committee in an attempt to create a stronger definition of a crime of aggression and to see if it could ever be applicable to the ICC.

The commission proved to be an "incredible" experience for Wilson. She found herself at the epicenter of the political world, with the Security Council discussing the conflict in Israel on the third floor, and CNN reporting on the ICC on the fourth floor. If quizzed by a professor on her absence, Wilson could definitely say she had a good reason to skip class — and gained valuable experience to boot.