On the UN Presentation

Richard and Alden's presentation hit on a problem spot that isn't often talked about - when we say we have international justice, and international courts, who decides what is justice for everyone in the world? Who can be objective enough to make that call? In the case of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), there is a body of fifteen judges who come from all parts of the world and supposedly make more objective decisions than would come about if only one person were at the head. Though this body is able to be more objective, they are still not given the jurisdiction required for their decisions to have hands and feet.

So the fact remains that people are being killed - all over the world, though the Darfur region gets more publicity. The delayed response to European imperialism is hitting Africa hard now, and their population represents the largest body of refugees in the world. There are also refugees in South America fleeing troubles in Colombia, and refugees from the Baltic states being displaced as well. These people are defined as "stateless" by the UNHCR, which also means, essentially, that they are also without access to the courts of any state. They are stripped of their rights, and the truly sad thing is that the only non-national organization that exercises jurisdiction over them essentially has no power.

On the other hand, the idea of an international power is truly disturbing and frightening to me; there are humanitarian implications that work in its favor, but the fact that it is still a human organization means that it will be corrupt. And I don't want two corrupt governments exercising jurisdiction over me - apparently not many others do, either. It is those people who have no government that will receive the benefit of a powerful, solid International Court.

Do we want that? Is it worth it to give up many of our freedoms in order to more evenly distribute them around the globe? It is easy to say we need a powerful United Nations, but it implies a less powerful United States. And a less powerful France, or Russia, or China. Though I know it is possible for the International Court to gain power, I don't think it will happen anytime in this decade, or maybe even not in the next - but it will happen, we are globalizing ourselves into requiring it.