BEGINNING OF OUR TRIBUNAL

Good morning,

As of today, we will spend the remainder of class time working on our ICC Tribunal. Please read the following...

Rules: The Rules and Procedures used in our tribunal will be based off of Article 15 of the Statute of the Tribunal, which went into effect on 14 March 1994 and was amended 25 July 1997.

Statute: Our Statute is based of the Rome Statue, which entered into force 1 July 2002.

http://untreaty.un.org/cod/icc/index.html

Tribunal: The official name of our tribunal is "The International tribunal for the Prosecution of Persons Responsible for Human Rights Violations of International Humanitarian Law in Libyan Arab Jamahirya since 2011, established by Security Council Resolution 1925 of 12 April 2011.

Jia you,

Mr. Gibson

PS - Overview of Libya so far - http://www.haguejusticeportal.net/eCache/DEF/12/377.html

PS 2 - UN Law links (Rome Statue and ICC) - http://www.un.org/law/icc/index.html

PS 3 - I made the UN Security Resolution up. They haven't actually made it that far yet for various reasons that relate to the conflict. I can explain more during class if you are curious.

Propaganda, PR, and Politics

Interesting article about Qaddafi, Propaganda, Politics and PR: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/06/libya.gadhafi.image/index.html

Latest News out of Libya: http://edition.cnn.com/2011/WORLD/africa/04/07/libya.war/index.html?hpt=T1

PS - Have you been paying attention to Libya lately? You might get some good stuff if you are.

Midterm Exam

Ni hao, Seeing as how we will miss next weeks' class, it's time to start thinking about our Midterm. Our Midterm will have two parts. One will be done as a group and must befinsiehd two weeks from today on April 13th.

1.) On April 15th, you must present your MUN Proposal to Teacher David, me, and any other administrators who need to know. This is not for a grade. However, if you are not ready, there will be no MUN. You have two weeks to cross all the t's and dot all the i's.

2.) On the day of the Midterm, you must do the following things either as a group or as an individual. This is for a grade.

Defense - Mr. Gibson will pretend he is your "Lawyer." You must present your defense to me. Your defense must be based upon the Rome Statute and the amendments and information found herehttp://www.icty.org/sections/LegalLibrary/Defence. Also, I suggest you come up with a strategy and then look through what the court can and can not do to strengthen your defense. This will require you to look through everyone else's information.

Prosecution - Mr. Gibson will pretend he is the "Judge." You must bring formal charges to me and an explanation of who will do what during the trial. See Part Four "Investigations of Rights and Subjects," Part Five "Pre-Trial Proceedings," and Part 6 "Proceedings Before Trial Chambers" herehttp://www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/Rules_procedure_evidence/IT032Rev45_en.pdf in order to have an idea of what you should get finished before our trial.

Witnesses - Mr. Gibson will be the "Grand Jury." You must tell me your story. If I can verify it, then you will be admitted as a good witness to the trial. This requires you to read Part Three "Organization of the Tribunal" Under Rule 34 here at http://www.icty.org/x/file/Legal%20Library/Rules_procedure_evidence/IT032Rev45_en.pdf. After that, just make sure that you can verify your own testimony.

PS - You can come up with extra witnesses. You all need at least two. This requires all of you to do research, write papers, and prepare to make an oral presentation to me.

I will check your work during class time, so it's in your best interest to finish this before you come to class in two weeks. That way, if you are unsure of what to do, you can ask me before Midterms.

On the day of Elective Midterms, all you will do is turn in your paper and present your defense to your lawyer, formal charges to the judge, or testimony to the Grand Jury. As always, email me if you need some help.

Jia you,

Mr. Gibson

"Listening Points" Video

Here is the video from Al-Jazeera that we watched today on media. http://english.aljazeera.net/programmes/listeningpost/2011/03/20113121012263363.html#

Classwork and Homework

Ni hao,

OK. Here is this week's homework...

1.) Fix up any mistakes from last week's homework.

2.) Each of you will be assigned a country or influential media organization. Your job is to look at how that country/organization is reacting to the news that is coming out of Libya. We will gather next Tuesday and, during first period, collaborate.

Here are your country assignments...

Darren: Al-Jazeera (Qatar/ Middle East)

Murielle: La Monde (France)

Christine: Russian Times (Russia)

Catherine: Media Indonesia and Antara (Indonesia)

Peggy: NBC and Fox News (United States)

Eve: The Times of India and NDTV (India)

Sarah: El Universal and El Mundo (Venezuela)

Sabina: Xinhua News (China)

Junior: The Punch, and The Nigeria Tribune (Nigeria)

You need to find at least five different news articles (not editorials) that deal with the topic. Give a one paragraph synopsis of those articles and be prepared to share them. Your synopsis should also include a brief explanation of who the author is. Also, be prepared to answer this question...

"How does (your country/ organization) seem to feel about the attacks in Libya?"

3.) Start preparing your defense, prosecution, or testimonies. They will be your midterms.

Mr. Gibson

Rome Statute to the International Court

Ni hao,

Here is the actual resolution which entered into force (meaning people could actually use it) on July 1, 2002. If you haven't read this text, read it, cite it, and use it to plan your defense, prosecution, or testimonies.

http://untreaty.un.org/cod/icc/statute/99_corr/cstatute.htm

Mr. Gibson