Closer Insights: The International Court of Justice Committee
The International Court of Justice was established by the Charter of the United Nations (1945) in The Hague, Netherlands and is currently, one of PANAMUN´s Committees. The ICJ’s main purpose within the United Nations is to settle any disputed arguments between two nations or between a nation and any sort of prosecution. In most cases, it is about maritime disputes or land mass (i.e. one nation believing land belongs to itself, while another believes the opposite). The ICJ Committee of PANAMUN is composed of 9 judges who take notes and ask various questions, while on the other hand, the advocates are known as the “Lawyers”.
This year the 2 Chairs of this Committee are: Claudia Tiller and Toby Hensel. Claudia has been part of PANAMUN since she was in 8th grade and since then, has developed a passion for debating. Last year, she was a chair for the UNEP Committee. On the other hand, Toby last year was a judge in the ICJ Committee and therefore, already has experience and is familiar with the way this Committee works. “I loved it so much that I joined this year, and I was lucky enough to be accepted as President of the ICJ, next to my amazing President: Claudia Tiller”, he said enthusiastically. Furthermore, both chairs believe that the people who apply for becoming a chair for ICJ, should be “anyone who values the truth”, they said. This is because the purpose of the ICJ Committee, is all about finding out the truth about a certain political or social issue.
This year, the ICJ will debate about the Maritime and Territorial Dispute about the continental shift between Nicaragua and Colombia. The chairs explained on how the Republic of Nicaragua believes that the delimitation of the continental shelf, only a few hundred miles away from the main landmass, should belong to them instead of Colombia. In fact, this area includes the valuable tourist island named San Andres, whose population believes themselves to be mostly Colombian. “It therefore, makes a case between what constitutes as being part of a country;the populace or the area?”, said Toby.
Toby and Claudia have have worked very hard and consistently, in order to make their Committee memorable. PANAMUN XXV is very near and they are very enthusiastic to work together for the first time, as Judges of the ICJ Committee. Claudia´s final words before the start of PANAMUN XXV are the following: “I´m extremely excited to see what both, our advocates and judges, have prepared for the conference, and I have no doubt we will have a heated and enriching debate over the three-day conference."
