Nate visits the International Criminal Court

Today, Nate toured the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague with his mentor, Rianne, and a criminal law class from Leiden University. The ICC was established in 2002 with the purpose of prosecuting individuals around the world who are guilty of the worst international crimes (ie war crimes, crimes against humanity, and genocide). The catch, is that only countries that are members of the ICC can have their criminals tried in the court. Currently, there are about 100 countries that are members of the ICC (with the United States NOT being one of them). The purpose of Nate's research is to study WHY the US is not a part of the ICC and research how NGOs (Non Governmental Organizations) are working to pressure the United States involvement.

01 The ICC

Just a couple weeks ago, the ICC arrested it's first criminal (Mr. Thomas Lubanga) who was involved with the ongoing civil war in the Demogratic Republic of Congo, Africa. Because of the this, security at the ICC was very heavy and they were only able to tour certain portions of the building. They were able to see the booking area, press room, and several of the main offices but not of the actual court chambers. They ended their tour with lectures from officials from the presidency, chambers, and prosecutor's offices. Although the trip didn't provide Nate a significant amount of information that he can directly use in his thesis, it gave him a good introduction to the processes and management of the court, and he really enjoyed the tour.

02 The Press Room

FYI, for those of you who heard about the death of Slobadan Milosevic, he was NOT being tried at the ICC. The ICC was not actually in existence when he was arrested for crimes against humanity in the former Ugoslavia. Instead, he was being tried in an ad hoc criminal tribunal (think a temporary court set up specifically for his prosecution). Had the ICC been in existence at the time of his arrest, he would have been tried there instead.

Hope everyone is doing well and enjoying the beautiful spring weather! We miss you!

03 Nate and Rianne at the ICC