International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Welcome to the Berlin International Court of Justice!

We, Lena Walther, David Heim, and Julian Lasius, will serve as the Presidents and the Registrar for the Berlin International Court of Justice (BMICJ) at the BERMUN 2008 conference. All three of us are experienced MUNers from the John F. Kennedy School, who several years ago discovered the ICJ as a new and interesting forum for all those with political and judicial interests. Let us introduce the BMICJ to you:

The ICJ is the essential judicial organ of the United Nations. It decides, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states. In addition, certain international organs and agencies are entitled to call upon it for advisory opinions. Eight years ago, the Berlin Model International Court of Justice was founded. Since then, the BMICJ has been growing and learning. In order to further expand, we encourage for the future the participation of more students from different schools and nations. What sets the BMICJ apart from other forums is that it features a small group of interested and motivated students, resulting in highly intense debates. Also, it is organized and run only by students, presenting a new and unusual challenge. This offers the participants a unique learning experience as well as an unforgettably fun conference. In order to maintain the high standards that are expected at the BERMUN conference, participants of the BMICJ invest large amounts of time and effort. It is essential to exhibit utmost dedication to the ICJ both before and during the conference.

The BMICJ 2008 will be composed of 15 to 20 independent judges, two presidents, who also act as judges, and a registrar, who is responsible for the administrative issues. This year's BMICJ will be just like last year's: a little different to previous ones, due to the fact that, in interest of debate, the case heard will be a fictional one. Therefore, no advocate teams will be required, as all the evidence will be available to the court beforehand. This will result in a greater emphasis on the interpretation and discussion of the legal issues involved, thus resulting in a greater learning experience. We are particularly honored to have a special ICJ adviser to assist our legal deliberations, who has completed his legal training and is also a former BERMUN Secretary-General.

We look forward to another productive conference of discussing, assessing, and passing verdicts. We hope our judges will find the ICJ as valuable a first look into international law as we have at past conferences.

See you in November!
Lena Walther, President of the BMICJ 2008
David Heim, President of the BMICJ 2008
Julian Lasius, Registrar of the BMICJ 2008