the European Court of Human Rights (in Strasbourg, France) and the Inter-
What is the International Court of Justice?
The Court is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was
established by the United Nations Charter, which was signed in 1945 in San
Francisco (United States), and began work in 1946 in the Peace Palace, The
Hague (Netherlands).
The Court, which is composed of 15 judges, has a twofold role: first, to settle,
in accordance with international law, legal disputes between States
submitted to it by them and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal
matters referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and
specialized agencies.
The Court’s official languages are English and French.
Who may submit cases to the Court?
Only States are eligible to appear before the Court in contentious cases.
The Court has no jurisdiction to deal with applications from individuals, non-
governmental organizations, corporations or any other private entity. It
cannot provide them with legal advice or help them in their dealings with
national authorities.
However, a State may take up the case of one of its nationals and invoke
against another State the wrongs which its national claims to have suffered
at the hands of the latter; the dispute then becomes one between States.
What differentiates the International Court of Justice from the International
Criminal Court and the ad hoc international criminal tribunals?
The International Court of Justice 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.
This task is the preserve of national courts, the ad hoc criminal tribunals
established by the United Nations (such as the International Residual
Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT), mandated to take over residual
functions from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia
(ICTY) and from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda (ICTR)) or in
co-operation with it (such as the Special Court for Sierra Leone and
the Special Tribunal for Lebanon), and also of the International Criminal
Court, set up under the Rome Statute.
How does the International Court of Justice differ from other international
courts?
The International Court of Justice differs from the Court of Justice of the
European Union (based in Luxembourg), whose role is to interpret European
Community legislation uniformly and rule on its validity, as well as from
American Court of Human Rights (in San José, Costa Rica), which deal with
allegations of violations of the human rights conventions under which they
were set up. As well as applications from States, those three courts can
entertain applications from individuals, which is not possible for the
International Court of Justice.
The jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice is general and thereby
differs from that of specialist international tribunals, such as the International
Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS).
Lastly, the Court is not a supreme court to which national courts can turn; it
does not act as a court of last resort for individuals. Nor is it an appeal court
for any international tribunal. It can, however, rule on the validity of arbitral
awards.
Why are some disputes between States not considered by the Court?
The Court can only hear a dispute when requested to do so by one or more
States. It cannot deal with a dispute on its own initiative. Neither is it
permitted, under its Statute, to investigate and rule on acts of sovereign
States as it chooses.
The States involved in the dispute must also have access to the Court and
have accepted its jurisdiction, in other words they must consent to the
Court’s considering the dispute in question. This is a fundamental principle
governing the settlement of international disputes, since States are sovereign
and free to choose how to resolve their disputes.
A State may manifest its consent in three ways:
 by a special agreement: two or more States with a dispute on a
specific issue may agree to submit it jointly to the Court and conclude
an agreement for this purpose;
 by a clause in a treaty: over 300 treaties contain clauses (known as
jurisdictional clauses) by which a State party undertakes to accept
the jurisdiction of the Court should a dispute arise with another State
party about the interpretation or application of the treaty;
 by a unilateral declaration: the States parties to the Statute of the
Court may opt to make a unilateral declaration recognizing the
jurisdiction of the Court as binding with respect to any other State
also accepting it as binding. This optional clause system, as it is
called, has led to the creation of a group of States each of which has
given the Court jurisdiction to settle any dispute that might arise
between them in future. In principle, any State in this group is entitled
to bring one or more other States in the group before the Court.
Declarations may contain reservations limiting their duration or
 excluding certain categories of dispute. They are deposited by States
with the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Are decisions of the Court binding?
Judgments delivered by the Court (or by one of its Chambers) in disputes
between States are binding upon the parties concerned. Article 94 of the
United Nations Charter provides that “[e]ach Member of the United Nations
undertakes to comply with the decision of [the Court] in any case to which it
is a party”.
Judgments are final and without appeal. If there is a dispute about the
meaning or scope of a judgment, the only possibility is for one of the parties
to make a request to the Court for an interpretation. In the event of the
discovery of a fact hitherto unknown to the Court which might be a decisive
factor, either party may apply for revision of the judgment.
As regards advisory opinions, it is usually for the United Nations organs and
specialized agencies requesting them to give effect to them or not, by
whichever means they see fit.
How can I attend hearings of the Court?
The hearings of the Court are public, unless it has been decided to hold a
closed hearing. For information on how to attend, please refer to
the Visits pages on our website. Representatives of the media wishing to
cover the hearings must be duly accredited. For further information, please
refer to the Accreditation page under “Press room.”
International Criminal Court:
 Prosecutes individuals for committing international crimes of
genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes
o No immunity is granted, not even to Presidents in office
 Not part of the United Nations, but has a special relationship with
the United Nations Security Council (UNSC)
o The UNSC can refer situations to the ICC
 It’s jurisdiction is limited to its member states (124 at the moment)
o USA, Russia, China, Syria, Somalia, Israel, Sudan among others,
have not ratified the Rome Statute or withdrew their membership
o Just last month January 2017, the African Union revived talks
about a unified withdrawal from the ICC, due to a perceived bias
against African leaders
 Rome Statute (it’s ‘charter’- actually it is a multilateral treaty
though) came into force in 2001
International Court of Justice:
 Settles legal disputes between nation states
 Primary judicial branch of the United Nations
 It has jurisdiction over all member states of the United Nations (so
pretty much all countries on the world)
 Established 1945
INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE- ICJ INTERNATIONAL CRIMINAL COURT – ICC

ESTABLISHEMENT YEAR 1946 2002

Independent. Not governed by U.N. Can

Official court of U.N, commonly known as
RELATIONSHIP WITH U.N receive referrals from UNSC. Can initiate
“World Court”.
prosecution without UN action.

HEADQUARTERS Peace Palace , Hague Hague

U.N Member states. Can give advisory Individuals accused of international crimes.

JURISDICTION opinions to UN bodies. Cannot try individuals. Uses International Law, as war crimes violate

Applies International Law Geneva Convention.

Sovereignty, boundary disputes,

maritime disputes, trade, natural resources, Genocide, crimes against humanity, war
TYPES OF CASES
human rights, treaty violations, crimes, crimes of aggression.

treaty interpretation, etc.

States that ratify the U.N. Charter

become parties to the ICJ Statute. Non-UN

DERIVES AUTHORITY FROM Rome Statute
member states can also become parties to

the ICJ by ratifying the ICJ Statute.

 ICJ decision is binding. UNSC can review if Appeals Chamber, according to Rome
APPEALS
states do not comply. Statute.

contribution from state parties to the Rome

Statute; voluntary contributions from the U.N;

FUNDING U.N funded voluntary contributions from governments,

international organizations, individuals,

corporations and other entities.