International Court of Justice and decision making in International Court of Justice - Topic of International Relations Students

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ICJ and decision making in ICJ
Nauman Sultan
NUML - Islamabad

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Established on June 26th,1945
Authorized by Charter of United Nations, Statue of International Court of Justice

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Also known as the World Court
Principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).
Official languages- English and French
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Headquarter
The Hague, Netherland
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Headquarter Building
The Hague, Netherland

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ICJ - Members of the Court
• The International Court of Justice is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office
by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It may not include more than
one judge of any one nationality. These organs vote simultaneously but separately.
• In order to ensure a measure of continuity, one third of the Court is elected every three years.
Judges are eligible for re-election.
• Elections are held in New York (United States of America) on the occasion of the annual
autumn session of the General Assembly.
• All States parties to the Statute of the Court have the right to propose candidates.

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How ICJ Works?
The Court is competent to entertain a dispute only if the States concerned have accepted its jurisdiction in one
or more of the following ways:
• By entering into a special agreement to submit the dispute to the Court;
• By virtue of a jurisdictional clause, i.e., typically, when they are parties to a treaty containing a provision
whereby, in the event of a dispute of a given type or disagreement over the interpretation or application of
the treaty.
• Through the reciprocal effect of declarations made by them under the Statute, whereby each has accepted
the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory in the event of a dispute with another State having made a similar
declaration. A number of these declarations, which must be deposited with the United Nations Secretary-
General, contain reservations excluding certain categories of dispute.

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Proceedings may be instituted
Proceedings may be instituted in one of two ways:
• Through the notification of a special agreement: this document, which is bilateral in character, can be
lodged with the Court by either or both of the States parties to the proceedings. A special agreement must
indicate the subject of the dispute and the parties thereto. Since there is neither an “applicant” State nor a
“respondent” State, in the Court’s publications their names are separated by an oblique stroke at the end of
the official title of the case
• By means of an application: the application, which is unilateral in character, is submitted by an applicant
State against a respondent State. It is intended for communication to the latter State and the Rules of Court
contain stricter requirements with regard to its content. In addition to the name of the party against which
the claim is brought and the subject of the dispute, the applicant State must, as far as possible, indicate
briefly on what basis - a treaty or a declaration of acceptance of compulsory jurisdiction - it claims that the
Court has jurisdiction, and must succinctly state the facts and grounds on which its claim is based.

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Headquarter
The Hague, Netherland
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Headquarter Building
The Hague, Netherland
Members of ICJ

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President
Abdulqawi Ahmed Yousef
Somalia
Member of the Court since 6 February
2009; re-elected as from 6 February 2018;
Vice-President of the Court from 6
February 2015 to 5 February 2018;
President of the Court since 6 February
2018
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Vice President
Xue Hanqin
China
Member of the Court since 29 June 2010;
re-elected as from 6 February 2012; Vice-
President of the Court since 6 February
2018

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Other Judges
• Judge Peter Tomka
(Slovakia)
• Judge Ronny Abraham
(France)
• Judge Mohamed Bennouna
(Morocco)
• Judge Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade
(Brazil)
• Judge Joan E. Donoghue
(United States of America)
• Judge Giorgio Gaja
(Italy)
• Judge Julia Sebutinde
(Uganda)
• Judge Dalveer Bhandari
(India)
• Judge Patrick Lipton Robinson
(Jamaica)
• Judge James Richard Crawford
(Australia)
• Judge Kirill Gevorgian
(Russian Federation)
• Judge Nawaf Salam
(Lebanon)
• Judge Yuji Iwasawa
(Japan)

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Some Famous Cases Solved by ICJ
Case Name Disputed Countries
Introduction
Year
Culmination
Year
Jadhav India vs Pakistan 2017 2019
Maritime Delimitation in the Black Sea Romania vs Ukraine 2004 2009
Maritime Dispute Chile vs Peru 2008 2014
Wailing in the Antarctic
Japan vs Australia
(NewZeland was
intervening)
2010 2014
Jurisdictional Immunities of the state
Germany vs Italy
(Greece was
intervening)
2008 2012

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