Over 120 countries have united to form the International Criminal Court (ICC) — the first permanent court created to prosecute perpetrators, no matter how powerful, of crimes against humanity, war crimes and genocide. The Reckoning follows dynamic ICC Prosecutor Luis Moreno-Ocampo and his team for three years across four continents as he issues arrest warrants for Lord's Resistance Army leaders in Uganda, puts Congolese warlords on trial, shakes up the Colombian justice system, and charges Sudan's President Omar al-Bashir with genocide in Darfur.  Using curriculum developed specifically to delve into the particular subject matter and the visual, audio and reading materials designed to engage and enhance learners, this course will focus on three themes, spending 2 weeks on each theme.  


1) The first and second week of this course will focus on the topic, 'Law or War: The Creation  of the International Criminal Court', where learners will be provided an overview of the Court itself.  They will understand the reasoning and justification behind the court, the basic structure of the court in the world order and how it functions to deter or punish war crimes.  Once the basic structure is established, students will be able to delve into a more thought provoking assessment and debate regarding the Court, it's champions and its critics.  Specifically, the learners will be faced with a question, 'should the U.S. join the treaty to become a part of the International Criminal Court?'.  There will be no opinion given by the teacher or the material, rather both arguments for and against will be laid out in the curriculum and the learners themselves will discuss, debate and ultimately decide this question for themselves.  

2) The third and fourth week of the course will be focused on questions of peace and justice and how the court addresses those concepts.  The materials will focus on the ICC and its interactions with the conflict in Uganda, exploring how the ICC's interaction with the country has sparked conversation and change within the country.  For example, in the bush of Uganda, rebel leaders have used the arrest warrants as a bargaining chip in peace negotiations; in displaced persons’ camps, Ugandans are debating the merits of the ICC versus traditional justice mechanisms; at a national level, the government of Uganda is restructuring its own judicial system to be able to address these atrocity crimes directly.  The learners will also have the opportunity to delve more deeply into two questions.  First, the question of child soldiers, learning about the ramifications on society when societies use large numbers of child soldiers to wage war with, and to examine the idea of child soldiers as victims or perpetrators of crimes.  Second, the learners will learn about the local justice system in Uganda, called, Mato Oput and discuss, debate and ultiamtely decide whether they think that a local system or an international system of justice is best for the people of Uganda. 

3) In the fifth and sixth week of this course learners will focus on testing the limits of international law by studying the ICC's intervention in the Darfur conflict. Learners will understand the United Nations role in having the conflict in Darfur come before the court and decide how they feel about the UN intervention.  They will delve deeper into questions about how the court can or cannot arrest world leaders for alleged crimes and whether or not they should have the power to do so.  They will learn more about the African continents critique of the Court, and the prevailing belief in Africa that those countries are being singled out unfairly by the Court.  Ultimately, student will discuss, debate and decide for themselves the answers to these questions.  

This course is designed to provide the learner with the necessary information within the course, so a learner need not come with previous knowledge of the subject.  (if the learner wants to take other courses related before coming to the subject, I can recommend my course, Introduction to International Law).  While the learner will (hopefully) leave the course with greater substantive knowledge of the subject matter, ultimately this course is designed to help students use critical thinking skills to analyze the questions and problems, providing them greater insight into the world of international justice and accountability.