APPROVED [GA] Resolution to amend the Statute of the Court

[Connor]

PROPOSED RESOLUTION AMENDMENT THE GLOBAL ASSEMBLY

________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________​

REPRESENTATIVES NAME AND TITLE | Ambassador for Sweden to the Global Assembly, Marc Kvet

CURRENT PARAGRAPH(S) IN QUESTION |
1 | (Article 12.5) The Chief Justice shall make orders for the conduct of the case, shall decide the form and time in which each party must conclude its arguments, and make all arrangements connected with the taking of evidence.

2 | (Article 15.2) Application for Appeal should be made to the Chief Justice in company with all supporting evidence, witnesses and miscellaneous material in the first instance for initial review by the court.

PROPOSED AMENDMENT |
1 | (12.5) The Chief Justice shall make orders for the conduct of the case, shall decide the form and time in which each party must conclude its arguments in line with the guidance presented in Article 12.5a to 12.5c, and make all arrangements connected with the taking of evidence by means of physical witness testimony and documented evidence.

(12.5a) The parties, at the opening of the courts session, may present an opening statement to the presiding bench. The court recognises the undue delay and hinderance to the case should opening statements be outside a reasonable tolerance thus sets a limit of five hundred (500) words, unless prior request is made to and granted by the Chief Justice.

(12.5b) Concluding closing statements, in the interest of retaining the process of the court and the reasonable orderly presentation of evidence throughout the session, should not exceed a set limit of seven hundred and fifty (750) words, unless prior request is made to and granted by the Chief Justice.


2 | (15.2) Application for Appeal should be through the submission of an official referral to the Court in company with all supporting evidence, witnesses and miscellaneous material in the first instance for initial review by the court.

(15.4) In the event of the Chief Justice refusing to hear an appeal, the referrer retains the right to contest which should be reviewed by the Secretary General independently.
(15.4a) The Secretary General may, at any time, bring a contested appeal to session in which case the Secretary General will chair the session.
(15.4b) The decision of the Secretary General is final and upon conclusion of an appeal being heard or refused, no further referrals may be made to the court in relation to the heard case, unless exceptional circumstances permit.

(15.5) Judgements made in the initial case are not enforceable on the presentation of an Application for Appeal or a refused application referral being contested until the conclusion of the process.

​

 

[Hollie]

GLOBAL ASSEMBLY ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL

__________________________________________________________

The assembly is now in session to address the proposed amendments to the Statute of the Court. Representatives are welcome to enter the chambers in order to participate in the debate. We duly remind the esteemed ambassadors of the seating arrangement, which remains alphabetical. Once everyone is seated, we will open the session with a statement from the Swedish Ambassador, Marc Kvet.


.​

 

[Connor]

Ambassador Marc Kvet, in his usual fashion, would strut from his office donning a perfectly ironed grey suit and hugging a black conference folder emblazoned with the Swedish Coat of Arms under his right arm. Once within the chamber he would nod as a sign of respect to the security officers at the door before taking his seat as appropriate - a small Swedish flag would be placed onto his desk beside the plaque 'SWEDEN' as the long-standing tradition adopted by the Swedish in the Global Assembly.

Once comfortable he would begin preparing his paperwork.

 

[Kelly the Mad]

Newly appointed GA Representative Alix Awolowo, dressed in a neatly made-up navy pinstripe suit would walk to the chamber. He carried a computer bag, his laptop having all of the information he needed, and more. Outside of the chamber, he would hand a security guard his PPK pistol from inside of his jacket, patting his hands before walking in. He would sit in front of his plaque, and read a short brief.

 

[Jamie]

The British Global Assembly Delegate, Benjamin Cave, entered the chamber and made straight for his seat. Passing a friendly nod to the Swedish Ambassador before sitting down with a glass of water and waiting for the session to commence. Taking a moment to make small talk with the Swedish Ambassador until others arrived.

 

[Bossza007]

Ambassador Krit Garnjana-Goonchorn would apparel in the current Thai fashion. He wears a blown coat with Foreign Affairs emblem and his name. He has a cinnamon briefcase that contains the proposed resolution and essential stuff for the duty. He would leave his office and walk to the chamber. He makes a Thai greeting and says aloud. "Sawadee Krub, everyone! I hope you all are happy." He smiles at everyone in the room. He would walk to Swedish asking how is he. He approached Congolese, saying that he got a lovely laptop before walking to the British, joking that there might be an argument like the last time. He sits at his seat and brings up a Thai flag and Global Assembly flag on the table and a sign saying "THE REPUBLIC OF THAILAND." He picks up his things and will greet anyone that walks into the chamber.

 

[DHouseAlwyswyns]

The Chinese Foreign Ambassador would enter the chamber with his staff and assistants, he then noticed the early birds from Thailand, Sweden, Congo, and the Brits, after looking around for a while to let it all sink in, he then went to area where the Chinese delegation is to sit, puts the Chinese flag at the table and confidently gestured to his staff to pipe down behind him, moments later he then sat down at his chair, fixed his tie, and calmly read his notes from his briefcase his assistant was carrying.

 

[Owen]

The Australian Permanent Representative to the Global Assembly, Gillian Bird would arrive in the chamber and would take her seat, taking note of the current nations who were in attendance before reading through the proposed resolution and highlighting important sections of it.

 

[Thomas R. Jones]

The Brazilian Representative, Maria Nazareth Farani Azevêdo, would arrive into the Chamber of the GA apprehensively and nervously. She would nod to her colleagues before opening her briefing prepared by her office on the Resolution.

 

[Tim]

Yoka Brandt, permanent representative to the Global Assembly, would arrive in the Chamber with her prepared paperwork and notes in a small suitcase that she opened once she reached her seat, taking out the paperwork and notebook.

 

[Vaka]

Ambassador Jean-David Levitte, walked calmly into the Chamber of the Global Assembly sporting a black suit and bright red tie. He carried a messenger bag slung around his neck and resting on his hip with his brand new laptop inside. Along with a fresh coffee in his left hand and a briefcase in right, he made for the seat marked France. He slipped his new laptop open and looked around for a charging outlet whilst it booted up. Finding an outlet but realizing he would need an adapter he sighed and took a sip of his coffee. He then remembered the little French flag he had been given to put on his desk. He placed it upright next to his quickly dying laptop and began to read over the proposed amendments.

 

[Connor]

Given a substantial number of nations had now entered the chamber, Ambassador Marc Kvet would raise from his seat with his microphone activated in order to speak to the chamber, in doing so he would button the front of his blazer and use the paperwork before him to refer to throughout his introductory speech.

"Secretary General, Ambassadors, thank you for joining me this afternoon for the hearing of this proposed amendment to the Statute of the Court, one of our foundation treaties governing the way in which the International Court of Justice is operated and remains true to law, ethics and values. As I am sure you are all aware that there have been a handful of cases that have passed through the doors of the courts thus far: each and every one of them have lasted months upon months with huge delays being caused by one key factor. Information overload.

Information is key to a case for the prosecution and the defence. The selection and presentation of evidence in a particular order, with particular emphasis and particular focus can make or break a case and often the defence would like to challenge evidence presented at a certain time in order to have the best possible chance of the court finding their client not guilty or reducing the sentence against them. The bench of Justices should be using the statements and the discussions in court in order to influence their decision making process because that is fundamentally what the courtroom is for. Unfortunately, that is not what's happening and to date our courts are less than impartial.

At present cases presented to a court with the use of opening and closing statements often include thousands of words compacted into numerous paragraphs of information and threaded through countless pieces of evidence that the bench simply are not reading due to their dreadful length. The case goes on through the various debates and counter arguments through the process of the court until ultimately the bench makes a decision from their own personal opinion rather than being influenced by the prosecutions evidence or dissuade by the defence's arguments - this is not a fair trial and a breach of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights.

The proposed amendments to the court provide a word limit governing the opening statements to no more than five hundred (500) words and closing statements to no more than seven hundred and fifty (750). This is not only giving the parties ample wiggle room to make their case but also keeping the statements short enough for the bench to have some form of reasonable threshold for reading throughout the court session. This amendment is made with the view to speed the court process up and stop the considerable delays, hopefully bringing the average time of a court session from months to weeks.

Finally some alterations have been made to the appeals process, which will bring the Application for Appeal into the public domain rather than backdoor agreements with the Chief Justice.

...and in case you were wondering, this opening statement is five hundred words on the dot... I am sure you'll agree this would be a more reasonable length than the statements we have seen to date?

I welcome your opinions and I open this out to the floor. Thank you."​

Jamie Bossza007 DHouseAlwyswyns Owen Thomas R. Jones Tim Vaka

 

[Zak]

Permanent Representative of Israel to the Global Assembly Danny Danon​

Danny Danon marched into the Global Assembly chamber surrounded by his advisers and assistant whilst carrying a briefcase which contained various documents relating to the topic at hand. He arrived into the chamber in a smart tailored suit which was complemented by a red tie and the glasses which were perched on the bridge of his nose. He took a seat in front of a sign which stated 'ISRAEL' with a small Israeli flag on the other side of the desk.

He began reading through the transcripts of the proceedings so far as well as the draft resolution.

 

[Odinson]

The American Ambassador arrived to the General Assembly wearing a new pin-striped suit. He was carrying a briefcase with him which contained some paperwork and other things. He sat next to his British colleague and sighed. He opened his briefcase and took out a plastic bag which contained 12 pieces of well-cooked American bacon. He slowly started eating the bacon as he watched the Swedish Ambassador give his opening remarks. Without saying anything he took a piece of the warm, crispy bacon and reached over to the British ambassador. It appeared he was offering it to him.

Jamie Connor

 

[Connor]

The Swedish Ambassador would look slightly confused as the American's greasy fingers begin to wave some crispy bacon in front of him. His eyes would dart quickly to the US Ambassadors face, making some awkward eye contact which he refuses to break as he slowly pulls the piece of bacon from between his fingers and slides into his own mouth, A quite crunch is heard as Marc begins to chew the piece of bacon, embracing the warmth and the flavour.

Marc smiles, leaning to the US Ambassador and mumbling "That was some tasty meat".

He eagerly awaits comments in relation to the resolution.

Odinson

 

[Odinson]

“You bastard…” Ambassador Adams said under his breath. He had clearly been offering the bacon to the *British* Ambassador. He watched as the Swede slowly chewed it with his mouth, which had been God knows where. There were only a few pieces of bacon left which he hadn’t eaten, but he had now lost his appetite. He took the three strips and neatly placed them on the desk before the British Ambassador, “Sorry, you can have the rest… I just lost my appetite.” He then took a napkin and wiped his hands off before the Swedish Ambassador licked them clean for him.

Connor Jamie

 

[Hollie]

GLOBAL ASSEMBLY ANNOUNCEMENT BY THE SECRETARY GENERAL

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Ambassador Adams, you're welcome to raise a complaint for the rude and demeaning behaviour exhibited by the Swedish Ambassador once this session is over. However, we expect representatives adhere to the highest standards of behaviour and conduct themselves in a professional manner, so we would advise against bringing your own provisions in the future. After all, the assembly works best when it's proceedings are seen to be dignified. Now, does anyone have anything relevant and productive to add to the debate?

.​

Connor and Odinson​

 

[Alex]

Yelizaveta Soloveva, the Ambassador to the Global Assembly from the Russian Empire, would arrive in the room and take her seat.

 

[Danny]

The Austrian Ambassador Maximilian Leitner would arrive and take his seat. Stroking his hourseshoe moustache as he read the script

 

[VBCFan]

Ambassador Abdallah Y. Al-Mouallimi of the Royal Kingdom of Saudi Arabia would enter the grounds of the court and take a seat right next to the Congolese Ambassador, Alix Awolowo and plop down since he was a rather heavy man. He was also rather happy to make it out of Riyadh where literal hell had broken loose across the streets. In fact he was the only aircraft to make it out of the Airport before authorities grounded all aircraft in Saudi Arabia until further notice due to fears of a further attack and the absolutely ludicrous fact that there was no jet fuel since it was be diverted to exports into China and Asia. While their nations were at war the Ambassador did not have any problem with the man since the Congo was relatively(at least he thought) insignificant to Saudi Arabia so he would ask him how he was doing in a heavy accent. “Congratulations Abassador on your appointment, it’s about time Africa joined the world stage, yes?”
Kelly the Mad