YMCA Model UN - Burlington County, New Jersey

Committee Description

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) resolves international disputes between countries, and provides an opinion on legal issues of international law to requesting United Nation agencies. Thirty students are expected to abandon their national prejudices and become impartial judges of international law. Each of the Excellencies will be placed into teams of three or four members. Each team represents one side of a case and only four cases will be presented at the program for a total of eight teams.

Each Excellency will be assigned to a case as a team.  Once your role has been assigned students should immediately begin familiarizing themselves with the case and potential arguments. In order to adequately prepare for the conference each team is required to prepare a brief for presenting their side of the case. A copy of all final briefs must be served by December 10th to both your opposing counsel and the program staff. Each attorney will receive a copy of the submitted briefs and evidence at the conference.

Realizing the importance of teamwork in this chamber, ICJ delegates should possess the following qualities: hard working, able to work in a long distance team environment, demonstrate leadership skills, quick to respond or question on their feet, great speaking technique, dedicated to the project at hand, and preferably a second year delegate.

2010 ICJ Cases

• Case 1 Djibouti v. France
• Case 2 Croatia v. Serbia
• Case 3 Ecuador v. Colombia
• Case 4 Mexico v. United States