International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Chairs: Adam Kugelman, Yaira Dubin 

Dear ICJ Delegates,

                Welcome to the International Court of Justice committee of the Yeshiva University National Model United Nations 2010. We are looking forward to a challenging yet exciting committee, and we are excited to meet all of you. As you may already know, ICJ is different than the other committees in that you will not be representing your own countries, rather, you will be arguing on behalf of your group within the court (prosecution, defense, or judges), which is irrelevant of your school’s country. Keep this in mind, as your research should not be based on your country’s point of view, rather it should focus on the international laws and the way they apply to any country.

In addition, delegates will not find out the exact nature of the issues to be examined until the beginning of the first session. We will, however, tell you that this year’s topic will concern war crimes and crimes against humanity, so it would be wise for you to research these topics thoroughly before the conference. As an exercise in preparation for the event, you will be required to research and submit a paper analyzing “The Lord of the Rings” trilogy, and to explain which war crimes and crimes against humanity, if any, occurred in these movies.  You should cite proofs as to why these did or did not constitute war crimes or crimes against humanity using international law and previous cases brought to the United Nations as references.  The paper should be 1-2 pages and illustrate your understanding of the international laws and how they apply.  Resources to use include the UN website, which lists previous cases brought to the ICJ that will assist in your understanding of the legal questions raised in the movie.  Feel free to be creative within the guidelines of the assignment. Completed assignments should be sent to us via email.

We are very much looking forward to working with all of you in YUNMUN 2010.   ICJ will test your ability to understand complex legal precedent and apply that same logic to the case you will be arguing.  As an ICJ delegate, you will need to think independently and originally, both as a team player and as a leader.  Good luck with the assignment and feel free to contact us with any questions you might have.

Your Chairs,
Adam Kugelman kugelman@yu.edu
Yaira Dubin ydubin@yu.edu 

Position Papers
Due December 21, 2009