THE INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT AT THE HAGUE

By Nicole Tiger

Brandeis University

Hi friends and family! Nicky here. So I’ve come a long long way from my last post. I’m having the time of my life here in Madrid, and now I can say I had the time of my life in the Netherlands, too! I kid you not when I say that the Hague will be my favorite trip from this entire Study Abroad experience. Not only did the trip have plenty of waffles, Paco’s (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4M7rPL7NW3k), and over-all awesomeness, we also visited the International Criminal Court, which brings me to the focus of this blog post.

The International Criminal Court, or the “Corte Penal Internacional”, is an independent international organization that works to assign blame to the individuals responsible for global atrocities. Essentially, leaders can no longer hide behind their positions when their crimes fundamentally violate universally recognized human rights. I personally agree with everything the court stands for and greatly admire the work they put in to get justice for victims who have suffered unspeakably horrible ordeals at the hands of government officials they ought to be able to trust.

During our visit to the ICC, the court case in session involved a chief of police from Kenya responsible for the neglect and corruption of his police force that led to several deaths and uninvestigated crimes of a sexual nature. His men repeatedly allowed the passage of enemy troops into villages and failed to provide protection during attacks. It was so fascinating to see the actual set up of the court in session, as opposed to the empty courtroom we toured while in the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia.

While of course the entire tour was memorable, there was one moment that stood out from all the rest as the most funny, yes funny. Throughout the portion of the trial that we witnessed, the camera had remained focused on the prosecutor delivering her closing argument. However, for one brief second, the camera changed targets and displayed a man picking at his nose, then immediately switched back to the prosecutor. It was both surprising, and hilaaarious. Paco and I exchanged a brief look of confusion and chuckled to ourselves.

Overall, I learned a lot about international law from my visit to the International Criminal Court. The entire experience was very cool because I felt as if I were participating in the trial somehow by being in the audience. The whole trip was a huge success for me, and I enjoyed every minute! Thanks CIEE!