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International Court of Justice – History and Structure
The International Court of Justice is the court of the United Nations. The Court is located in the Peace Palace which is in Hague, Netherlands. The purpose of this court is to settle disputes from the states and to weigh in on legal questions that are submitted by international assemblies and the UN General Assembly.
The court is made up of a panel of fifteen judges. The judges are elected by the UN General Assembly and serve a term of nine years. After their initial nine years they are eligible to be elected for up to two more terms. Elections are held every three years with one third of the judges either running for re-election or retiring. This helps to give the court continuity and keep the judges on a fair rotation.
If a judge dies while still in office a judge of the same nationality is elected to complete the term. Two judges from the same nationality can not serve at the same time. Since the 1960′s there has always been a judge representing four out of the five permanent members of the Security Council. The Security Council is made up of France, Russia, The United States, The United Kingdom and The People’s Republic of China. China did not have a judge on the court until 1985 due to the fact that they did not put a candidate up for election before that.
The IJC provides that judges be “elected regardless of their nationality among persons of high moral character”, they need to be qualified for the highest courts in their home country or known as lawyers with a strong background in international law. Once elected a judge can no longer hold any other position and can not act as council, however most judges still do this as long as there is no conflict of interest. The only way for a judge to be dismissed before their term is up is by a unanimous vote from the other judges. Judges are able to give joint decisions or they can give their own separate opinions on a matter.
The majority rules in the court on any decision. There is a provision where a judge can be on the court Ad hoc for a decision. This allows a party with a contentious case to have a judge from their own country on the bench for that case when a judge from that country is not a current judge on the ICJ. This makes it possible for as many as seventeen judges to sit in on one case at a time.
The Ad hoc judges are allowed to participate fully in the proceedings just as any other judge on the bench and is able to render their decision in the same manner available to the permanent bench. This is done in an effort to provide a sense of fairness to all of the proceedings in the court and to keep from being accused of rendering biased decisions.
The court is not required to hear cases as a full bench. Cases may be heard as a chamber or panel of three to five judges. This is usually done for special cases or for Ad hoc proceedings. Advisory opinions are used in the court where in the case that the court decides that a state or organization may be able to provide useful information they are given the chance to give a written report or an oral presentation before the court. This is used to help the court to make decisions on complex legal matters. Advisory opinions can carny some level of controversy and has in some cases been seen as a way of swaying the opinions of the court.
It is considered to be the responsibility of the UN members to comply with the decisions of the court. There have in the past been problems with the lack of enforcement from countries who do not agree with the outcome of a dispute. It is the Security Councils function to enforce the decisions of the court, however this is not always the case.
There is no method to compel the Security Council to enforce the compliance of a ruling. The court renders it’s decisions based on the “general principles of the law recognized by civilized nations”. The decisions of the court only apply to the states that are directly involved in that case. The court is not bound by past rulings and can make exceptions to those as they see fit.
The court is able to make decisions based on what would be considered to be fair and equitable in that particular case. Preliminary objections cam be raised by a country that does not wish to submit to the court. This is to give the respondent the ability to argue inadmissibility to the court and have a case thrown out.
The court will then need to decide if they have jurisdiction in the matter. If a third party country will be affected by the decisions of the court they may petition to intervene and help to protect their interests. Interventions are decided by the court on a case by case basis and the court will also decide to what extent the third party may be involved. There is no remedy for states that disagree with the ruling of the court. The decisions of the court are final and there is no appeals process in place.
The ICJ was established in 1945 by the UN Charter. The court has dealt with a low number of cases historically, but has begun to see a raise in the number of cases that they are being presented with in recent years. More of these cases are being brought forward by developing countries.
The United States is no longer subject to the compulsory rulings of the court and now only accepts their decisions on a case by case basis. The UN Security Council is supposed to enforce the rulings of the IJC, but enforcement is subject to a veto from the five permanent members of that council.
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International Court of Justice is a 65 years old body and its headquarters is at The Hague, Netherlands. There is doubt if this body has served the purpose as per the demand of the time. Members of the Security Council have veto power and any one of them can undo what one should have done. It appears at times that the UNO has been hijacked by the USA. I do not exactly know what is in the fate of the ICJ.