Nicaragua v. United States of America, 1984
International Court of Justice
Set against the backdrop of Cold War anxieties, the ICJ committee at McMUN 2026 will revisit Nicaragua v. United States of America (1984), widely regarded as among the most significant cases in the court’s history.
In the early 1980s, the US engaged in covert operations to support the Contra rebels in overthrowing Nicaragua's revolutionary socialist Sandinista government, with the CIA engaging in activities from training the rebel forces to directly supplying funding and intelligence. Justifying its intervention as collective self-defense, the US claimed that its Central American allies were threatened by the Sandinista regime, which it saw as a vessel for Soviet influence. In response, Nicaragua brought the case before the ICJ, alleging violations of sovereignty and international law through unlawful use of force, the mining of Nicaraguan harbours, and the backing of rebel forces.
In this iteration of our annual legal committee, delegates take on the roles of judges, lawyers, and witnesses as they deliberate issues central to international law, as well as attempt to navigate a deeply polarized geopolitical context shaped by the ideological and almost military conflict between two major superpowers that sought to exert their power globally.
Facilitated by the unique procedural structure of the ICJ committee, both courtroom deliberations and behind-the-scenes negotiations will be simulated, inviting delegates to engage with legal doctrines and argumentation alongside familiar Model United Nations elements. Between drafting judgements, preparing evidence and testimony, and responding to real-time public reactions to the court’s proceedings, delegates will experience the careful balance that must be struck between strict adherence to legal standards and consideration for the intangible factors that guide state behaviour.
Among the many reasons that this case lingers in the collective international conscience today is the American boycott of the court’s proceedings in 1985. Refusing to participate further and denying an obligation to comply with the court’s verdict in the following year, the US argued a misuse of the agency’s power and jurisdiction over its own sovereign affairs. As such, the arguments surrounding this multifaceted conflict were never heard in full. This committee provides delegates with the unique opportunity not just to simulate and replicate court proceedings, but also to shape the legacy of one of the ICJ’s most defining cases, all the while finding a balance between justice and realpolitik, and questioning what role international law should, and pragmatically can, play on the world stage.
