The symposium "The International Criminal Court: Challenges and Opportunities Ahead," organized by the Wisconsin International Law Journal at the UW Law School, was attended by a full house of students and law faculty, local attorneys, UW-Madison faculty and Madison community members on March 1, 2003.

Preeminent authorities on international law participating in the symposium included Judge Patricia Wald, former Chief Judge of the DC Circuit Court of Appeals and former Judge on the International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia; David Sheffer, former U.S. Ambassador at Large for War Crimes who headed the U.S. Delegation at the Rome Conference which established the ICC; and three leading academic experts on the ICC, war crimes, and the new Court -- Leila Sadat of Washington University College of Law, Beth Stephens of Rutgers Law School and Diane Orentlicher of American University's Washington College of Law.

The panelists? presentations will be published in the Wisconsin International Law Journal, whose staff organized the event with the support of their faculty adviser, Professor Heinz Klug.

The symposium examined the idea, born out of the ruins of WWII and amid cries of "never again," of creating a permanent court to try individuals accused of such heinous international crimes as genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity.

The panel further examined the many legal issues surrounding the controversial International Criminal Court, some of which explain why the Bush Administration has pledged to withhold its support and cooperation from the Court.

The International Criminal Court entered into force on July 1, 2002 and has jurisdiction over crimes against humanity, genocide and war crimes. On Tuesday, March 11, Queen Beatrix of the Netherlands will preside over a ceremony in The Hague inaugurating the International Criminal Court and swearing in its first bench of judges.

Submitted by on March 7, 2003

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