The Internation Court of Justice: An Evaluation

The United Nation’s International Court of a Justice is the main judicial committee of the UN, whose major purpose is to settle disputes between states and provide legal advice to other international courts and UN bodies. The court is based in the Peace Palace, located in The Hague, Netherlands. The International Court of Justice, or the ICJ, is made up of fifteen judges selected from the Permanent Court of Arbitration by the UN General Assembly and Security Council. No two judges may come from the same country, and the judges collectively represent the major systems of law, commonly regarded as common law, civil law, and post-communist law. On certain occasions, the court may divide itself into chambers, usually of three to five judges, to resolve an issue, as it has done several times throughout its relatively short history. The Charter of the United Nations first formed the ICJ in June of 1945, with the intention of resolving international conflicts in order to adhere to the United Nation’s key goals of preventing war and breach of human rights. From the court’s beginning, the International Court of Justice has faced many cases to preside over, including several high-profile cases with plenty of media coverage. One such case was Nicaragua v. The United States of America, a 1984 case in which Nicaragua accused the United States of violating international law by supporting the Contra guerrilla group in their rebellion against the government and by disrupting trade in Nicaragua’s harbors. After hearing the arguments, the court ruled in favor of Nicaragua, awarding compensation from the United States. More recently, the International Court of Justice recently heard a case between Georgia and the Russian Federation over the war crimes and ethnic purges committed by Russia during the 2008 South Ossetia War. The ICJ has yet to announce their ruling on this case. The International Court of Justice, interestingly enough, does a fair job of having a wide diversity of judges and impartial decisions. Unfortunately, the court is also notorious for its incredible inefficiency. Even if rulings are made, the reparations or other compensations often go unpaid. In the case Nicaragua v. United States, for example, the United States got out of compensating the Nicaraguan government by using its veto power on the Security Council to block enforcement of the ruling by the United Nations. Additionally, the court can only hear the case if both parties agree to submit to the court’s decision. Adding further to the court’s dismal productivity is the fact that organizations or individuals cannot be tried. While the court is certainly full of competent and capable judges, the United Nations Constitution, as well as other bodies on the UN, limits its potential to truly solve the important issues.


Sources:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/International_Court_of_Justice

http://www.icj-cij.org/