The Men of Law

By: Ting Chen, American School of Taichung

In a corner of the SALT Center, the International Court of Justice isolated itself from the other committees with its blocked windows and secured doors. The deputy chairs and registrar, Varun Arte, Yenson Huang, and Akihiro Matsukawa, spread out in a line on one end of the room with their President, Jessica Hung. The three silent young men helped to strengthen the structure of the court.
Varun Arte’s first experience as an advocate of the ICJ at THIMUN-Singapore in his tenth grade year kindled his enthusaism and passionate love for the committee. Through intense debates and questioning of the witnesses, Arte learns to self-actualize his potential as a successful deputy chair. “[ICJ] is a different forum [in which] we can speak without using the third person,” said Arte. “ I’m interested in law.” He found using the third person hard to trigger an active debate.
Arte’s satisfaction for the conference so far was beyond his expectations. “The advocates have prepared the witnesses really well. The witnesses are really making some good points. In our previous conferences we have witnesses that didn’t know what they are talking about.” Arte’s fellow companion, Akihiro Matsukawa, who has worked with him for numerous conferences, also added that “The judges are really active this year because [in the past] they usually fall asleep because of the boring debates.”
Matsukara began his career as an MUNer in THIMUN-Singapore a delegate in the GA. He became a judge in the ICJ for the first time when he joined BEIMUN the following March. “It’s really different from MUN, that’s why people shied away from it,” remarked the Registrar. “[But] the debate [here] is more direct. It’s less formal, so it leaves more room for actual and heated debates.”
Unlike Matsukara, who had experience in chairing, Yenson Huang from Taipei American School took on the deputy chair role for the first time in his MUN career. “ICJ so far has been quite exciting for me because its my first time being a student officer. I was quite nervous so I staggered a lot while I was chairing. It was quite scary for me,” stated Huang. He came in touch with MUN during a summer camp in Yale University. “I want to major in law,” replied Huang when asked about his devotion in the ICJ. “I don’t like to speak in front of a lot of people, so ICJ is a small conference [suitable for me].” In school, Huang demonstrated his love for singing by joining the choir. “I love singing in a group. I don’t sing solos or duets,” continued Huang as he moved on to voice his hope for this conference. “ I hope to be more firm and to speak more properly because I tend to mumble a lot.”
Arte, another enthusiast for the performing arts, tried out Theatre back in the International School of Beijing. He said with a comical tone that “Even though [he is] Indian, [he does] not like cricket.” As for his advice to the future judges, advocates, and chairs? He asked these participants to consider carefully before they step into the court. “If you really want to be a chair. You’ve really got to be interested in law, because it’s completely different. Once you got in, it’s really hard to get out. You’ve got to stick to your decision.”
Together and hand in hand, Arte, Huang, and Matsukara kept the ICJ under control and gave their full support to Hung the President.