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 gaining an understanding of how the United Nations and the International Criminal Court can be used to engage with Russia on the situation in Ukraine as well as to consider some of the challenges that the court would have in the current crisis. 

This two hour seminar course will focus on the topic, 'Law or War: 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 though provoking assessment and debate regarding the Court, it's champions and its critics.  Specifically the learners will be faced with a question, 'should the International Criminal Court be used as a tool in the current Ukraine conflict?'  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. 

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.