Peace Palace – Even the name of the brick building in the Hague has no doubt about its founding claim to settle international conflicts with its decorative turrets, domers and arcade. But it takes some time to start this task.
The First World War broke down a year after the completion of the building in 1913. The building stood through two world wars and for a time, placed the legal umbrella organization of the League of Nations.
When the United Nations was found after World War II, Hague is once again the center of international law. But while all other main and bodies were located in New York, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) began its work at Peace Palace in the Netherlands.
What is the International Court of Justice?
Article 92 of the United Nations Charter, the official international treaty that controls the United Nations, “The International Court of Court will be the major judicial part of the United Nations.” The 193 member states are automatically parties for the treaty and according to the charter, at least, ICJ decisions must be followed.
The court is made up of 15 judges, each of whom should come from a separate country and is elected by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council. Five new judges are rotated in the panel every three years. In the United Nations Security Council, a certain quota ensures that they represent all regions of the world. Since March, the body has been presided over by Japanese Judge Yuji Evasawa as Vice President with Julia Sebutinde of Uganda.
ICJ hears cases in which anti -state acts. It differs from the International Criminal Court (ICC), which handles tests for individuals accused of discovering allegations as war crimes.
What is the jurisdiction of the court?
However, a clear mandate for all states resulted in the expectation of signing the United Nations Charter, this is not the case. The ICJ only has a blanket jurisdiction if all the states involved have announced the announcement to submit all international legal disputes to the court. Germany made such an announcement in 2008, as is one third of the UN member states.
States who have not announced this, in case of controversy, voluntarily agree with each other to bring the case before the ICJ. However, there are cases in which the state states can be accused before ICJ without personal consent. This is the case when the plaintiff refers to the United Nations conferences for which ICJ is named as a court, and signed by the defendant state.
A prominent example of this will be the 1948 United Nations Massacre conference, of which Article 9 states that the dispute “will be presented to the International Justice Court on the request of any party for the dispute.” Ukraine made its case based on Russia on the agreement soon after the invasion began in early 2022. Another example is a case launched by Gambia, in which Myanmar should defend themselves against the allegation of genocide against Rohingya.
The South Africa case against Israel is based on the massacre conference. The ICJ is currently investigating if the Israeli is violating the conference of massacre, it was in Gaza Strip. In 2024, ICJ ordered Israel to take precautionary measures to avoid doing so and gave the government to respond by the beginning of 2026. Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu was not involved in the arrest warrant for ICJ war crimes, which is why the international criminal court.
ICJ may be appointed as a dispute solution body in bilateral agreements. In 2018, for example, judges heard a case brought by Iran against some US sanctions based on the 1955 friendship agreement, eventually ruled in favor of Tehran. The US had to ensure that medical care, for example, not affected by restrictions. The administration of the then President Donald Trump later called the friendship agreement with Iran.
In 2023, Tehran still won a partial victory in another case based on the agreement as a legal basis. At that time, the Iranian related to the case is found in American banks. Because this measure was already implemented before the final of the agreement in 2018, judges considered Thaumas as jurisdiction.
No enforcement of rules
In all three cases – announcement of submission, ICJ dispute resolution or action based on a treaty – court decisions are legally binding. There is no commission for the appeal proceedings.
In the example of Ukraine case, Hague ordered Russia to temporarily stop the war of aggression against Ukraine in March 2022. A final decision is still pending.
But Russia’s continuous disregard has revealed the shortcomings of the ICJ: there is no world police to implement its rule. Finally, ICJ always depends on the cooperation of parties involved.
This article was original in German and was published on 7 April 2024. It was updated to reflect the new work of the court on 16 July 2025.
