ICJ

Hey all

So as you all know I requested robe sizes from you guys to figure out what sizes to get when I ordered them for the conference. Turns out the judges robes I am getting are one size fits all, so please don’t worry about it. I have ordered them and I hope you all are as excited as I am about them and about committee. If you guys have any issues or just want to talk please email me or come to online office hours. If you want me to be online at a certain time let me know and I can do my best to arrange it. I look forward to seeing you all soon as do all the other chairs for ICJ.

Taumoha

Hey everyone

So in gearing up for the conference in three weeks time. I will be having online office hours through AIM on Wednesdays between three and five p.m.  If this time doesn’t work for you please let me know, and I will try and arrange another time to be online.  The screenname is bmunicj56.  Hope to talk to you soon.

 Taumoha

Hi again

So I am trying to get all of you justice robes for during the conference. ICJ allows their justices to wear traditional judicial wear from their home country or western business attire.  I am hoping to get all of you judges’ robes for during the conference to make committee feel more authentic, but to do that I need to get some idea of what kind of sizes you would wear (S, M, L).  If all of you could please email me at jhumki AT berkeley DOT edu at some point within the next few days that would be amazing. Thanks

Taumoha

Hello all

As we approach the conference next month I have been getting several questions as to how committee will proceed.  Here is a basic overview of how it will go.

Since the ICJ is a court we will be running committee like a trial.  We will start off with opening statements from the prosecution and defense attorneys.  Following this we will have you as justices give short speeches (if you want, it isn’t mandatory by any means) and explain what you think each side needs to present in order to convince you to vote in their favor during deliberations which will take place on Sunday morning. 

After opening statements and your speeches, we will proceed with witnesses.  The prosecution will have the floor first and thus present their case through their witnesses. Each witness will be questioned by both counsels and then each of you will have the opportunity to raise certain questions to the witness. Keep in mind that the questions you ask have to be answerable by that witness, such that they would have knowledge to answer your question.  In other words a villager can explain what they saw during an attack but they probably could not tell you all the details about the army’s strategy.  Once the prosecution has called forth their last witness to the stand, the defense will have their opportunity to present their witnesses.  In between witnesses you can call caucuses (moderated or informal) to go over what each witness has said and whether they have helped one side  more so than the other.  In fact, I encourage you to do this between each witness, if you would like, in order to summarize and reflect on them so that you will remember them clearly during deliberations.

Once all witnesses have been called forth, each counsel will give their closing arguments.  After this you will be entering deliberations (known as voting in other committees) Instead of writing resolutions however, you will be writing your arguments as to which side you favor and presenting these arguments to your fellow justices in an attempt to persuade them to your view.  Basically, each of you will be giving your own closing arguments.  Then you will vote and decide the case.

So basically that is the extent of how committee will be run.  Also committee will be run as if we were in the same time period as when the ICJ originally heard this case.  It will not be 2008.  If you have comments, questions, or suggestions feel free to let me know.  Also, if you have any witnesses that you would like to have called during the conference let me know by March 1, 2008 so we can do our best to accomodate such requests. 

Looking forward to an exciting weekend with all of you next month.

 Taumoha

Hello future Justices,

My name is Sarah  Van Vliet and I will be representing the prosecution and the people of Croatia during the trial.  I’m also a second year here at Berkeley, and  PEIS (Political Economies of Industrialized Societies) major, with a potential minor in either Scandinavian Studies or Public Policy. I grew up right here in Berkeley, though in high school I took a year off to study in Denmark. Last summer I also had the opportunity to study in Cambridge, England, and next fall I hope to have an internship in Geneva. As you can see, one of my major interests is travelling, as well as learning new languages and meeting new people. Whenever I have free time (which isn’t very often), I enjoy hanging out with my friends, hiking, and skiing.

Though I have only minimal experience in mock trial, I’m very excited to be exploring such a fascinating topic. I hope you all have as good a time with it as we are, and I look forward to meeting you all next month!

Cheers,

Sarah

Hello everyone..

My name is Marko Ristic. I’m a second year student at UC Berkeley and will be the lawyer for the defense (Serbia and Montenegro). With such an interesting topic many questions may spring up to mind. I myself was born in Belgrade, Serbia during this torrid time in the history of the region and will be glad to try and answer any questions you might have. I came here on December 31st, 1996 when I was 9 years old. Today my family home is in Fresno, but I have lived in Los Angeles, and currently reside in Berkeley during the school year.

I went to high school in Fresno, and did Model United Nations for three years. While I have experience in large committees this is my first time doing ICJ, so it will be a learning process for both of us. If you have any questions please don’t hesitate to ask and we will try to answer them together.

As for a bit of myself… I enjoy playing soccer, listening to a lot of music, chances are I’ll do the case with an iAudio on loud! lol and just getting to know people of different cultures. I plan to major in Business Administration and/or Economics and possibly minor in Slavic Languages and Literatures.

 My email is arsenalfc AT calmail DOT berkeley DOT edu in case something comes up…

 Hope to see you all at the conference,

 -marcao

Hello again

 Just a few words on ICJ position papers. Since ICJ is different than the other committees the position papers will be in a somewhat different format.  In terms of content an overview of the topic, UN involvement in the conflict, and references are the parts of the BMUN position paper guidelines you need to consider when writing your paper.  In regards to the overview of the topic portion of the paper, I would like you to first give a general background of the topic, and then describe both opposing arguments.  Despite the fact that you are not writing what your stance would be in terms of your country, I would recommend that you think about this idea carefully, as it may help you in deciding whether or not you would like to adopt the ideas that you would have if you were a citizen of that country when considering the case. 

In addition to those portions of the position paper, I would like you to write a part where you dissect both opposing arguments by describing both the strengths and weaknesses of each of their cases.  Also, I would like a part discussing the term genocide and whether or not you feel that the ICJ in particular has any right to preside over this case based on the terms put forth in the genocide convention.

 When writing your papers please keep in mind that no plagiarism is allowed and it will not be tolerated.  Furthermore keep in mind the authenticity of your source when you are doing your research. You are all in high school, so by now I feel you can judge for yourself which sites are credible and which may be questionable. 

Please keep in mind that the deadlines for paper submissions are Feb 1 for research awards and March 1 for general awards.  Papers handed in at the conference will likely not be graded due to lack of time.  If you have any questions please let me know at jhumki AT berkeley DOT edu.

 Taumoha

Hey everyone.

My name is Taumoha Ghosh and I am so excited to be returning to Berkeley this semester to act as your head-chair for the International Court of Justice Committee for the 56th session at Berkeley Model United Nations.  A little background about me, I am a third year Molecular Cell Biology major with an emphasis in Immunology.  I spent the past semester studying abroad in Sweden and travelling around Europe, which was absolutely amazing.  I am originally from Canada, but spent most of my formative years in Wisconsin before completing my high school education in San Rafael, California.  I am addicted to TV and movies, and I love to read and dance.  I have been on this committee (in its various forms) for the past three years and prior to that I was involved in my high school’s Mock Trial team. 

ICJ is one of the really cool committees that allow you to get a different perspective on the United Nations, since it is in a court setting instead of an actual committee.  This year our committee will be looking at the situation resulting from the break-up of the former Yugoslavia, mainly by looking at the case presented against Serbia and Montenegro by Croatia for committing acts of genocide.  As individual justices each of you will be responsible for analyzing the case as it is presented before you during the course of the conference.  If during your research prior to the conference you find any individuals that you would like to call forth as witnesses during the conference, I would really appreciate if you could let me know via this blog or by e-mail, so that my co-chairs and I can do our utmost to make that happen. 

More to come soon.