Topic: Universal Jurisdiction in Crimes against Humanity
Country: Gabon
Delegate Name: Kate Kelley
School: Royal Oak High School
Topic page: background guide and all position papers All Gabon position papers GLIMUN 2011 committees
Improving compliance and co-operation with the ICC is a matter of improving buy in and offering positive incentives for doing so. Attempting to coerce nations into accepting the universal jurisdiction of this body will only increase international resentment and limit the ability of the ICC to accomplish its goals. Instead, the Legal Committee needs to establish a framework incorporating truth commissions and the political expediency sometimes associated with amnesty into existing ICC policy.
International intervention, however, is a principle addressed by the ICC that should remain unchanged. In every historical case, international military involvement increased violence and instability, both of which are not conducive to the peace and stability the UN and ICC are meant to create and protect. It is key to remember that justice is not synonymous with revenge – it is fairness, reason, and righteousness. Moreover, though participation in international communities and systems is always encouraged, within the UN charter the rights of sovereignty are clearly defined as the ultimate defining force in inter-state diplomacy. If the Legal Committee attempts to define the ICC as a body unable to operate while respecting national sovereignty, interest in and cooperation with this court will decline dramatically.
In any resolution put forth by this committee, Gabon will be expecting a strong system of integration that incorporates work with existing UN organs and does not attempt to intimidate nations reluctant or unable to co-operate with the ICC at present. Connecting cooperation with the ICC to governmental legitimacy and economic support will increase willing participation, and with the incorporation of truth commissions and internationally defined amnesty will allow many nations facing regime change to participate without endangering the fragile peace won at such cost.
