International Court of Justice

Not to be confused with the International Criminal Court (ICC) in The Hague.

International Court of Justice   (Court)
Formation	1945
Parent organization	UN
Headquarters	The Hague, Netherlands
Leader	International Court of Justice/President
Type	•  legal •  international
The international court charged with preventing war crimes which is constitutionally unable to carry out its mission as regards the permanent members of the UN security council (and their allies) which are also (more or less) the world's most active weapons producers and wagers of illegal war.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), also called the World Court, is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN), which settles disputes between states in accordance with international law and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. The ICJ is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between countries, with its rulings and opinions serving as primary sources of international law (subject to Article 59 of the Statute of the International Court of Justice).

Background

Established in 1945 by the UN/Charter, the Court began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice.

Current Members

The ICJ comprises a bench of fifteen Judges, each elected to a nine-year term of office by the United Nations General Assembly and the UN Security Council. Members of the Court are independent Judges whose first task, before taking up their duties, is to make a solemn declaration in open court that they will exercise their powers impartially and conscientiously.

When engaged in the business of the Court, ICJ Members enjoy privileges and immunities comparable with those of the head of a diplomatic mission. In The Hague, the President takes precedence over the doyen of the diplomatic corps, who is followed by the Vice-President, after which precedence alternates between Judges and Ambassadors. Each Member of the Court receives an annual salary consisting of a base salary (which, for 2023, amounts to US$191,263 and post adjustment, with a special supplementary allowance of US$25,000 for the President. On leaving the Court, Judges receive an annual pension which, after a nine-year term of office, is equal to half the annual base salary.

• President Nawaf Salam

Lebanon

Member of the Court since 6 February 2018; President of the Court as from 6 February 2024

• Vice-President Julia Sebutinde

Uganda

Member of the Court since 6 February 2012; re-elected as from 6 February 2021; Vice-President of the Court as from 6 February 2024

• Judge Peter Tomka

Slovakia

Member of the Court since 6 February 2003; re-elected as from 6 February 2012 and as from 6 February 2021; Vice-President of the Court from 6 February 2009 to 5 February 2012; President of the Court from 6 February 2012 to 5 February 2015

• Judge Ronny Abraham

France

Member of the Court since 15 February 2005; re-elected as from 6 February 2009 and as from 6 February 2018; President of the Court from 6 February 2015 to 5 February 2018

• Judge Mohamed Bennouna

Morocco

Member of the Court since 6 February 2006; re-elected as from 6 February 2015

• Judge XUE Hanqin

China

Member of the Court since 29 June 2010; re-elected as from 6 February 2012 and as from 6 February 2021; Vice-President of the Court from 6 February 2018 to 8 February 2021

• Judge Dalveer Bhandari

India

Member of the Court since 27 April 2012, re-elected as from 6 February 2018

• Judge Iwasawa Yuji

Japan

Member of the Court since 22 June 2018; re-elected as from 6 February 2021

• Judge Georg Nolte

Germany

Member of the Court since 6 February 2021

• Judge Hilary Charlesworth

Australia

Member of the Court since 5 November 2021

• Judge Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant

Brazil

Member of the Court since 4 November 2022

• Judge Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo

Mexico

Member of the Court since 6 February 2024

• Judge Sarah H. Cleveland

United States of America

Member of the Court since 6 February 2024

• Judge Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu

Romania

Member of the Court since 6 February 2024

• Judge Dire Tladi

South Africa

Member of the Court since 6 February 2024

Judges ad hoc

Judges ad hoc are appointed by litigant countries when their cases come before the Court. For example:

• Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Ukraine v. Russian Federation: 32 States intervening)

Ukraine: Mr Yves Daudet

• Proceedings instituted by South Africa against the State of Israel on 29 December 2023

South Africa: Mr Dikgang Ernest Moseneke

Israel: Mr Aharon Barak

The ICJ President decides whether a permanent Judge has to stand down temporarily to make way for a Judge ad hoc.

Israel and the OPT

On 30 December 2022, ten months before the 2023-2024 Israel-Hamas War began, the UN General Assembly adopted resolution A/RES/77/247 requesting the ICJ to answer these questions in relation to Israel and the Occupied Palestinian Territory (OPT):

"(a) What are the legal consequences arising from the ongoing violation by Israel of the right of the Palestinian people to self-determination, from its prolonged occupation, settlement and annexation of the Palestinian territory occupied since 1967, including measures aimed at altering the demographic composition, character and status of the Holy City of Jerusalem, and from its adoption of related discriminatory legislation and measures?

"(b) How do the policies and practices of Israel referred to in paragraph 18 (a) above affect the legal status of the occupation, and what are the legal consequences that arise for all States and the United Nations from this status?”

Genocide in Gaza

South Africa accuses Israel of genocide

On 11 January 2024, the Republic of South Africa presented its case to the ICJ accusing the State of Israel of committing actions in the Occupied Palestinian Territory of Gaza that are "genocidal in character" against the Palestinian people.

Faced with a toll of more than 22,100 people killed between mid-October and 3 January in Gaza, Pretoria invoked “its rights and obligations” to prevent genocide and “protect the Palestinians of Gaza from destruction”. These rights and obligations are exercised within the framework of the 1948 United Nations Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

Concluding a 3-hour sitting of the Court, South Africa's Ambassador at The Hague Vusi Madonsela called upon the ICJ to order Israel to:

Cease all military activities in the OPT;

Stop killing and causing serious mental and physical harm to the Palestinian people in Gaza;

Stop deliberately imposing living conditions intended to bring about their physical destruction as a group; and,

Allow access to humanitarian aid.

On 12 January 2024, Israel presented its case. The Israeli delegation was led by Mr Gilad Noam, Deputy Attorney General for International Law, Ministry of Justice of the State of Israel, Mr Tal Becker, Legal Adviser, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, and Ms Tamar Kaplan Tourgeman, Principal Deputy Legal Adviser of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the State of Israel, as Co-Agents.

Israel responded: “In accordance with Article 60, paragraph 2, of the Rules of Court, for the reasons given during the hearing of 12 January 2024 and any other reasons the Court might deem appropriate, the State of Israel hereby requests the Court to:

Reject the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa; and

Remove the case from the General List.”

The ICJ said in a statement on Wednesday 24 January 2024 that the 17-Judge panel will announce its response to South Africa’s requests in Court on January 26:

On Friday 26 January 2024, the ICJ will deliver its Order on the Request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by South Africa in the case concerning Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). A public sitting will take place at 1 p.m. at the Peace Palace in The Hague, during which Judge Joan E. Donoghue, the President of the Court, will read the ICJ’s Order.

On 26 January 2024, the ICJ delivered its Order on South Africa’s request.

Further developments

On 23 January 2024, Nicaragua, referring to Article 62 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court an Application for permission to intervene “as a party” in the case.

On 16 February 2024, the Court issued its decision on South Africa’s request for additional provisional measures dated 12 February 2024.

On 28 March 2024, the Court indicated additional provisional measures, following a request from South Africa, dated 6 March 2024, for the indication of additional provisional measures and/or the modification of its Order of 26 January 2024.

On 5 April 2024, Colombia, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case.

On 10 May 2024, Libya, invoking Article 63 of the Statute of the Court, filed in the Registry of the Court a declaration of intervention in the case.

On 10 May 2024, South Africa filed an urgent request with the Court for the indication of additional provisional measures and the modification of provisional measures previously prescribed by the Court.

On 13 May 2024, Egypt announced it will join South Africa’s genocide case against Israel at the ICJ.

On 16 and 17 May 2024, the ICJ will hold hearings on South Africa's request of 10 May for the indication of additional provisional measures & the modification of measures previously prescribed by the Court in the case South Africa v Israel.

On 24 May 2024, the ICJ issued Summary Judgment 2024/6 which, inter alia, stated:

"Israel must immediately halt its military offensive, and any other action in the Rafah Governorate, which may inflict on the Palestinian group in Gaza conditions of life that could bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part."

ICJ Advisory Opinion

Responding to UNGA resolution A/RES/77/247, the ICJ issued on Friday 19 July 2024 its Advisory Opinion which found that Israel’s decades-long occupation of the Palestinian territories was “unlawful”, and that its “near-complete separation” of people in the occupied West Bank breached international laws concerning “racial segregation” and “apartheid.”

Delivering the court’s findings, ICJ President Nawaf Salam said that Israel must make reparations to Palestinians for damages caused by its occupation, adding that the UN Security Council, the UN General Assembly and all states have an obligation to not recognise Israel’s occupation as legal.

A detailed summary of the ICJ's Advisory Opinion is recorded here.

A US State Department spokesman said:

“We are concerned that the breadth of the court’s opinion will complicate efforts to resolve the conflict and bring about an urgently needed just and lasting peace, with two states living side-by-side in peace and security.”

Israeli Finance Minister Bezalel Smotrich, who is also the minister in charge of settlement expansion in the West Bank, has called on Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu to formally annex the territory in response to the ICJ ruling.

US vetoes enforcement

In 1986, after the court ruled that the United States's covert war against Nicaragua violated international law, the US simply withdrew from compulsory jurisdiction. Although Chapter XIV of the UN Charter authorises the Security Council to enforce court rulings, such enforcement is subject to the veto power of the five permanent members of the council, so the United States simply vetoed enforcement of the case, allowing it to avoid the effective sanction of the ICJ.

The court has ignored obvious evidence of illegality in connection with the 2003 Iraq War, notably when the Kuala Lumpur War Crimes Commission found Tony Blair and a bunch of US government officials guilty of war crimes.

Ruling on Kosovo

In its Advisory Opinion of 22 July 2010, the ICJ concluded that the declaration of independence in respect of Kosovo in its precise historical circumstances "did not violate any applicable rule of international law". The declaration of independence thus set a precedent that could apply to other separatist movements.

 

A Document by International Court of Justice

Title	Document type	Publication date	Subject(s)	Description
Document:South Africa institutes Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel	statement	29 December 2023	Israel South Africa Occupied Palestinian Territory International Court of Justice Genocide Convention Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict	South Africa's 84-page Application instituting Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel

 

Related Quotation

Page	Quote	Author	Date
Craig Murray	“The International Court of Justice has stated definitively that the Israeli occupation is illegal and it is the duty of states not to support it. Yet in UK law it is perfectly legal to state that you support the IDF and hope that they kill all the Palestinians in Gaza But it is illegal in the UK - and carries 14 years in jail - to express support for named Palestinian organisations engaged, legally in international law, in armed resistance to illegal occupation.”	Craig Murray	20 August 2024

 

Related Documents

Title	Type	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:A Devastating Indictment of Israel’s War on Gaza	Article	11 January 2024	Mike Small Roshdi Sarraj
Document:Dikgang Moseneke to join bench of judges in Israel-Hamas world court case	Article	5 January 2024	Kgaugelo Masweneng	Should presiding American Judge Joan Donoghue recuse herself when it comes to determining whether US staunch ally Israel has committed genocide in Gaza?
Document:Ex-Israeli Supreme Court chief Aharon Barak appointed as ICJ judge for genocide case	Article	8 January 2024	The New Arab Staff	Aharon Barak argued that the rules of collateral damage permit the killing of Palestinian fighters even if led to the deaths of children. This was approved by Barak himself in a 2006 Supreme Court ruling, as cited in a report by a Canadian news outlet.
Document:Existence vs Expansion	blog post	21 July 2024	Craig Murray	The International Court of Justice Advisory Opinion is extremely lucid and decisive. The ball is now back in the court of the UN General Assembly, which requested the Opinion. The General Assembly now should move to suspend Israel’s membership of the United Nations. That is the next project on which I shall be working.
Document:Has International Law Survived, or Has the Western Political Class Killed It?	blog post	28 January 2024	Craig Murray	Now think of this: the very next day after President Herzog made a genocidal statement, as determined by the International Court of Justice, he was met and offered “full support” by Ursula von der Leyen, President of the European Commission and Roberta Metsola, President of the European Parliament
Document:ICC prosecutor says world leaders 'threatened' him over Israel arrest warrants	Article	5 September 2024	News Desk	“Target Israel, and we will target you,” US Senators, led by Tom Cotton, warned in the letter. “Such actions are illegitimate and lack legal basis, and, if carried out, will result in severe sanctions against you and your institution.” Senators Mitch McConnell (minority leader), Rick Scott, Tim Scott, Ted Cruz, and Marco Rubio also signed the letter.
Document:ICJ to decide on emergency measures in Israel-Gaza genocide case this week	Article	24 January 2024	Al Jazeera staff	South Africa’s Foreign Minister Naledi Pandor will travel to The Hague to be present at the International Court of Justice as it rules on the Israeli genocide in Gaza.
Document:International justice: the South African complaint against Israel for “genocide” in Gaza	Article	10 January 2024	United Nations Regional Information Centre for Western Europe
Document:Israel Goes to Court for the Crime of Genocide	Article	12 January 2024	Philip Giraldi	The plan by America’s “best friend” and “closest ally” to nuke the world even has a name: the “Samson Option,” recalling how the Biblical strongman Samson brought down the temple where the Philistines were mocking him, killing thousands of them.
Document:Jeremy Corbyn leads cross-party push in Parliament for immediate recognition of Palestine	Article	4 September 2024	Joe Connor	Early Day Motion 71 "Calls on HM Government to immediately recognise the state of Palestine in accordance with the International Court of Justice’s advisory opinion of 2024, which recognised that the West Bank, East Jerusalem and the Gaza Strip constitute a single territorial unit the integrity of which is to be respected."
Document:On Gaza, Sunak's Tories and Starmer's Labour have merged into a single pro-war party	Article	22 January 2024	Peter Oborne	If the ICJ rules in South Africa’s favour then Rishi Sunak, as well as US President Joe Biden, will be wide open to the charge that they are aiding and abetting genocide. And so will Labour’s Keir Starmer.
Document:Only a failing US empire would be so blind as to cheer Netanyahu and his genocide	Article	26 July 2024	Jonathan Cook	Members of the US Congress roared “USA!” to their satrap from Israel, just as Roman senators once roared “Glory!” to generals whose victories they assumed would continue forever. Every empire falls. Its collapse becomes inevitable once its rulers lose all sense of how absurd and abhorrent they have become.
Document:Open Letter To The Judges Of The International Criminal Court	Letter	7 October 2024	Yanis Varoufakis Brian Eno
Document:Returning the Sausages	Article	24 September 2024	Mike Small	"Keir Starmer’s speech to conference was one of the most stage-managed and vapid addresses I’ve ever seen. It’s not enough to have hollowed out his party, the idea of being a protestor – or having values – or even using accurate language to describe the horrors going on in Gaza must be banned and mocked."
Document:South Africa institutes Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel	statement	29 December 2023	International Court of Justice	South Africa's 84-page Application instituting Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel
Document:South Africa’s Case Was a Display of International Solidarity - We Should Support It	Article	12 January 2024	Jeremy Corbyn	At the International Court of Justice, South Africa spoke on behalf of the billions of people who oppose Israel's genocide in Gaza — and put Western governments to shame for their deplorable complicity.
Document:The Presence of Evil	blog post	25 July 2024	Craig Murray	Netanyahu’s slanderous attacks on the institutions of international law were applauded to the rafters by America’s political leaders. The whole world was watching, and took note. The Zionist project per se is evil. To steal another people’s land and subject them to long and progressive genocide is about as evil a deed as can be imagined.
Document:To continue the Gaza genocide, Israel and the US must destroy the laws of war	Article	31 May 2024	Jonathan Cook	Now, as Netanyahu and Gallant risk being put in the dock at The Hague, Washington is finally finding its resolve to act. Not to stop genocide. But to offer Israel protection to carry on.
Document:Watch the West continue to make a mockery of international law	blog post	19 July 2024	Jonathan Cook	The World Court concludes that the Palestinians are owed massive reparations. At a bare minimum, western governments must recognise the state of Palestine and impose sanctions on Israel until it withdraws from the occupied territories.
Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 1	blog post	11 January 2024	Craig Murray	The fact of genocide is incontrovertible and had been plainly set out. But several of the Judges are desperate to find a way to please the USA and Israel and avoid countering the current Zionist narrative, the adoption of which is necessary to keep your feet comfortably under the table of the elite.
Document:Your Man in the Hague (In a Good Way) Part 2	blog post	14 January 2024	Craig Murray	"These two days in the Hague were absolutely crucial for deciding if there is any meaning left in notions of international law and human rights. I still believe action by the Court could cause the US and UK to back off and provide some measure of relief. For now, let us all pray or wish, each in our way, for the children of Gaza."

 

A document sourced from International Court of Justice

Title	Type	Subject(s)	Publication date	Author(s)	Description
Document:South Africa institutes Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel	statement	Israel South Africa Occupied Palestinian Territory International Court of Justice Genocide Convention Israeli–Palestinian conflict 2023 Gaza−Israel conflict	29 December 2023	International Court of Justice	South Africa's 84-page Application instituting Genocide Convention proceedings against Israel

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