Today's visit to the International Criminal Court made me think more about how to make legal processes and global politics more accessible to general populations. Our visit started with us walking through a multimedia exhibit to introduce us to a general understanding of how the court works, what its jurisdiction is, and what types of people are tried there. The different videos and stories told through the exhibit offers a more human perspective on war-torn countries and the lived experience of someone who directly suffered at the hands of war criminals. I don’t have any background in criminal courts or legal jargon so I appreciated the time the institute took to share their work and the personal stories of victims through more accessible visuals and language. This exhibit also made me think about how working in a completely bilingual, and even trilingual, environment informs the way spaces are designed; is there enough space on the wall to print three languages worth of text? Are there enough major language options for the audio guide? This kind of intentional thinking had to become extremely natural and intuitive for the court, and in turn this makes the nature of the court more inherently inclusive and accessible for visitors and staff, thus hopefully influencing the overall culture of the organization.
After a private presentation on the court’s function and history we went to listen to and observe the pre-trial of Al Hassan. The setup of the courtroom made it so that we were directly across from the judges’ bench and the legal teams were flanking the sides. Al Hassan was seated on the right hand side behind the defense team and was next to at least two security officers at all times. The experience felt almost theatrical - me, an audience member, being transported into a different world where the ‘actors’ spoke differently, exclaimed thoughtfully, and acted intently. Watching the court made me realize how little I know about the world around me. I’m not sure if it’s because the case content is so foreign (I don’t experience war crimes in person or really on TV…) or if it’s because the legal language was over my head, but I was completely captivated by the complexity of the court proceedings and the thoughtful and diligent work of the lawyers. Watching the lawyers and judges at this time gave me a window into one type of innovative work. Courtrooms are not generally thought of as collaborative because opposing ‘teams’ are battling to win the case. What’s collaborative about that? However, while watching this pretrial I saw a lot of collaboration within and between the prosecution and defense teams. Within teams individual lawyers are whispering and passing notes back and forth. There seems to be a lot of questioning and experimentation in order for the team to present the best statements possible. Between the two teams there is less evident collaboration; however, during the pretrial the defense asked for an extension on their work time and worked with the prosecution and judges to come up with a sensible solution. The three stakeholders were able to articulate their needs and collaborate to find a solution in a very high stakes situation.
Overall this day trip was thought-provoking and refreshing. I would like to note that the ICC has had, from my perspective, the most racially and ethnically diverse staff and range of visitors. It is important to recognize that a court is meant to serve the people and be unbiased and reasonable in its decision making, but we know that this is not always the case, especially in the United States. Therefore, seeing so many people of color being able to engage with and serve the court in positions of authority and power showed me that maybe the court system can be one designed to represent more people and help the voices of the traditionally marginalized be heard. Now, I know that the presence of a court itself implies that certain people need to be punished for actions that are often a result of structural inequities and social pressures or status (for example, everyone on trial was a man of color…), but while the courts and the current system still exist the small step towards justice starts with representation in the leadership of the court.
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