Last week, Jens David Ohlin gave a thought provoking presentation on International Criminal Law and invited participants to engage in the subject matter and give their opinion on how they felt international war moves should be judged. Ohlin started the lecture by illustrating a situation pulled from actual current events. He posed a question of morality and legality regarding the US’s bombing of a hospital in Afghanistan. Should the government be sanctioned for such a move? How come this story was not plastered all over the news and media when it happened? Ohlin addressed these questions and more and elaborated on a portion of international criminal law and encouraged the audience to think about where the line should be drawn between legal and illegal. 

The part that I found to be the most interesting was the role the United Nations played in this situation and how the international law body responds to such events. I have participated in Model UN since my freshman year of high school and while during our debate simulation we often pass several large pieces of legislation, this is not very reflective of the actual UN. The tricky clause of international law lies in the debate over sovereignty. When is a country overstepping its boundaries and encroaching on another national nation? Often the issue with the UN is that sovereignty is at the forefront of its mission goals and implemented global wide legislations and enforcing it often results in encroachment. This inefficiency was highlighted along with another loophole Ohlin mentioned. The United States holds a permanent position on the United Nations Security Council and therefore has voting rights. The council is able to incur war charges against other individuals and countries, however voting member positions do have the ability to veto such charges. Therefore, if the UN were to charge the US, the country could easily veto the charge. This is a demonstration of the US’s global influence allows it to often get away with many things without suffering the consequences.