When I first checked the schedule for this study abroad program, the visit to the International Criminal Court piqued my interest the most, purely based on the fact that it sounded cool. I obviously knew about the ICC beforehand but did not know exactly what it did and how it worked. Arriving at the location of the headquarters of the ICC, I was surprised about general design of the entire location. In my head, I pictured a something akin to the United States Supreme Court building—neoclassical in nature. However, it looked very modern, it seemed like a campus Apple would place their new headquarters in. It looked like anything but a court.
Getting into the place felt like getting into a different country—technically not too far from the truth. The security that I saw was so stringent and high tech. To get anywhere but the lobby of the main building, you needed a keycard and biometric authentication. It was crazy but also made so much sense to me the level of security just get from one hallway to another. While I was near the cafe waiting, I noticed a stretch of about 20 feet where a worker would need to authenticate their identity four separate times if they wanted to walk from an office-like area to some kind of lounge area. I knew this place was serious business before, but just observing for ten minutes, it became very self evident.
Being able to sit in on the pretrial for a war criminal was a surreal experience to say the least. Personally, I found the listing of his charges to be so interesting even when I had to filter through the legalease in both English and French to be able to understand what the prosecutors were saying. I have always been fascinated by the legal process and how powerful oral argument can be. One of the prosecutors used thousands upon thousands of words to say that the tribunal set up by the group of which the defendant was the leader was not legally valid nor legal, which means that the rulings that the group gave out were illegal. The big thing that I found the most interesting while watching the pretrial was how many of the lawyers were women and—more generally—how young many of them looked. It is so amazing to see people who looked so young to have such a large part in deciding the fate of a man so much older and someone who probably committed such terrible crimes. Obviously, the judges were much older and they are the final authority on whether or not the case goes to trial, but their opinions are influenced by the oral arguments and evidence laid out by the prosecution and defense. It is incredible that these people can craft such statements in two languages that probably may have not been their first or even second languages. The depth of knowledge that these lawyers must have has to be astonishing.
At first I was surprised that the ICC even had a library, but as I thought about where the lawyers at the pretrial got their information, it made total sense that there was one. It was really cool to see the collection and learn more about the logistics of library that is not meant for public consumption—especially one whose patrons are of such a specialized field. I liked the fact that since they are technically in international territory, copyright laws do not really apply to them, and the drawbacks and advantages that had on digitizing their collection, among other things. There are so many variables to take into account when running such a unique library, I have a hard time totally comprehending the many intricacies of the entire situation, and how they can have an inter-library loan system for a library in such a secure area. I know I learned a lot today.
Getting into the place felt like getting into a different country—technically not too far from the truth. The security that I saw was so stringent and high tech. To get anywhere but the lobby of the main building, you needed a keycard and biometric authentication. It was crazy but also made so much sense to me the level of security just get from one hallway to another. While I was near the cafe waiting, I noticed a stretch of about 20 feet where a worker would need to authenticate their identity four separate times if they wanted to walk from an office-like area to some kind of lounge area. I knew this place was serious business before, but just observing for ten minutes, it became very self evident.
Being able to sit in on the pretrial for a war criminal was a surreal experience to say the least. Personally, I found the listing of his charges to be so interesting even when I had to filter through the legalease in both English and French to be able to understand what the prosecutors were saying. I have always been fascinated by the legal process and how powerful oral argument can be. One of the prosecutors used thousands upon thousands of words to say that the tribunal set up by the group of which the defendant was the leader was not legally valid nor legal, which means that the rulings that the group gave out were illegal. The big thing that I found the most interesting while watching the pretrial was how many of the lawyers were women and—more generally—how young many of them looked. It is so amazing to see people who looked so young to have such a large part in deciding the fate of a man so much older and someone who probably committed such terrible crimes. Obviously, the judges were much older and they are the final authority on whether or not the case goes to trial, but their opinions are influenced by the oral arguments and evidence laid out by the prosecution and defense. It is incredible that these people can craft such statements in two languages that probably may have not been their first or even second languages. The depth of knowledge that these lawyers must have has to be astonishing.
At first I was surprised that the ICC even had a library, but as I thought about where the lawyers at the pretrial got their information, it made total sense that there was one. It was really cool to see the collection and learn more about the logistics of library that is not meant for public consumption—especially one whose patrons are of such a specialized field. I liked the fact that since they are technically in international territory, copyright laws do not really apply to them, and the drawbacks and advantages that had on digitizing their collection, among other things. There are so many variables to take into account when running such a unique library, I have a hard time totally comprehending the many intricacies of the entire situation, and how they can have an inter-library loan system for a library in such a secure area. I know I learned a lot today.