Internship with the Office of the President of the United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals Report - Clara Ludot

The United Nations Mechanism for International Criminal Tribunals (MICT) was created by the United Nations Security Council on 22 December 2010 and started its operations in July 2012. It is a temporary structure which inherited functions from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, which is due to close at the end of 2017, and from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda, which closed in December 2015.

My six-month internship within the Office of the President of the MICT was generously supported by the Oxford Global Justice Internship Programme. I joined a team of international lawyers who provided me with a multidisciplinary training, as I learned about the judicial application of international criminal legal norms, professional interactions and communication, and the administrative facet of an international criminal tribunal. I assisted in drafting legal decisions, worked on the supervision of enforcement of sentences, undertook in-depth research projects on international humanitarian law, and drafted a speech for the President. During my internship I was also able to attend meetings of President Meron with external organizations, which enabled me to see the interaction between the Tribunal and local actors. I am extremely grateful for the opportunity given to me to join a team of incredibly skilled and humane professionals, who were highly dedicated to ensuring that interns benefit as much as possible from their experiences in the institution.

This internship has provided me with an invaluable insight into the life of an international criminal tribunal and has represented for me the opportunity to contribute to international justice by participating in a system of accountability for international crimes.

I would strongly advise that anyone who wishes to undertake a career in international criminal law apply for an internship with the Office of the President of the MICT.