International Court Of Justice
Written by: Akhila Mohan
Edited by: Ritika Rana
International Court of Justice (ICJ), also known as the World Court is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN). It provides decisions which serve as International law, it also settles disputes between the state and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. In layman’s language, it is the Supreme Court of the world. It was established in 1946, after a year, the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ) was dissolved. It is a situated in The Hague, Netherlands.
The current President of the court is Abdulqawi Yusuf and the vice- president is Xue Hanqin. It comprises 15 panels of judges appointed by the General Assembly and the Security Council for a term of nine years. The court's workload covers a range of judicial activities. The issues of the jurisdiction are considered into three types of ICJ cases :
1) Contentious Issues: here, it forms a binding rule between the states that agree to submit to the ruling of the court.
2) Incidental Jurisdiction: It derives from Article 41 of the Statute. The final judgment, the order for interim measures of the court are binding to the state parties to the dispute.
3) Advisory Opinions: It is the function of the court open to only specified United Nations bodies and agencies.
The ICJ has also received a lot of criticisms in terms of its ruling, procedure and authority. Many of the criticisms refer more to the general authority assigned to the body by the member states through the Charter than to specific problems with the composition of judges or their rulings. It has no jurisdiction to try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity. As it is not a criminal court, it does not have a prosecutor able to initiate proceedings. It differs from the Courts which deal with allegations of violations of the human rights conventions under which they were set up, as well as applications from States at which courts can entertain applications from individuals, that is not possible for the International Court of Justice.
The International Court of Justice is endowed with both a privileged institutional status and procedural instruments whose potential is frequently underestimated.
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