Type: Prelims Only

Ukraine has filed an application before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), instituting proceedings against the Russian Federation for committing Genocide.

International Court of Justice

• The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN).
• It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946.
• The court is the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ), which was brought into being through, and by, the League of Nations.
• It held its inaugural sitting at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands, in February 1922.

Its establishment

• After World War II, the League of Nations and PCIJ were replaced by the United Nations and ICJ respectively.
• The PCIJ was formally dissolved in April 1946, and its last president, Judge José Gustavo Guerrero of El Salvador, became the first president of the ICJ.
• The first case, which was brought by the UK against Albania over concerning incidents in the Corfu channel — the narrow strait of the Ionian Sea between the Greek island of Corfu and Albania.

Seat and role

• Like the PCIJ, the ICJ is based at the Peace Palace in The Hague.
• It is the only one of the six principal organs of the UN that is not located in New York City.
• The other five organs are:

1. General Assembly
2. Security Council
3. Economic and Social Council
4. Trusteeship Council
5. Secretariat

• The court as a whole must represent the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.
• The judges of the court are assisted by a Registry, the administrative organ of the ICJ. English and French are the ICJ’s official languages.

Jurisdiction of ICJ

• All members of the UN are automatically parties to the ICJ statute, but this does not automatically give the ICJ jurisdiction over disputes involving them.
• The ICJ gets jurisdiction only if both parties consent to it.
• The judgment of the ICJ is final and technically binding on the parties to a case.
• There is no provision of appeal; it can at the most, be subject to interpretation or, upon the discovery of a new fact, revision.
• However, the ICJ has no way to ensure compliance of its orders, and its authority is derived from the willingness of countries to abide by them.

Judges of the court

• The ICJ has 15 judges who are elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, which vote simultaneously but separately.
• To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes in both bodies, a requirement that sometimes necessitates multiple rounds of voting.
• Elections are held at the UNHQ in New York during the annual UNGA meeting.
• A third of the court is elected every three years.
• The judges elected at the triennial election commence their term of office on February 6 of the following year.
• The president and vice-president of the court are elected for three-year terms by secret ballot. Judges are eligible for re-election.

India in ICJ

• Four Indians have been members of the ICJ so far.
• Justice Dalveer Bhandari, former judge of the Supreme Court, has been serving at the ICJ since 2012.
• Former Chief Justice of India R S Pathak served from 1989-91, and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Nagendra Singh from 1973-88.
• Singh was also president of the court from 1985-88, and vice-president from 1976-79.
• Before him, Sir Benegal Rau, who was an advisor to the Constituent Assembly, was a member of the ICJ from 1952-53.

Indian cases at the ICJ

• India has been a party to a case at the ICJ on six occasions, four of which have involved Pakistan.
• They are:

1. Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal v. India, culminated 1960);
2. Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council (India v. Pakistan, culminated 1972);
3. Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pakistan v. India, culminated 1973);
4. Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999 (Pakistan v. India, culminated 2000);
5. Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. India, culminated 2016); and
6. (Kulbhushan) Jadhav (India v. Pakistan, culminated 2019).

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