International Court of Justice

Context: Amid conflict Ukraine Foreign Minister urges the International Court of Justice to call upon Russia to immediately halt all military activities in the country.

• In its Application, Ukraine contends, “the Russian Federation has falsely claimed that acts of genocide have occurred in the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts of Ukraine, and on that basis recognized the so-called ‘Donetsk People’s Republic’ and ‘Luhansk People’s Republic’, and then declared and implemented a ‘special military operation’ against Ukraine”.
• Ukraine “emphatically denies” that such genocide has occurred and states that it submitted the Application “to establish that Russia has no lawful basis to take action in and against Ukraine for the purpose of preventing and punishing any purported genocide".

International Court of Justice

• It is also known as the World Court.
• It is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN).
• The other organs are the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, and the Secretariat.
• Established: 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations.
• Location: The Hague, Netherlands.
• Aim: It settles disputes between states in accordance with international law and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues.

Objective: The Court decides disputes between countries, based on the voluntary participation of the States concerned.

• It is the successor of the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ).
• It was brought into being by the League of Nations in 1922.

Official language: English and French.
Composition

• It consists of a panel of 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms.
• The judges of the court are assisted by a Registry, the administrative organ of the ICJ.
• To be elected, a candidate must receive a majority of the votes in both General Assembly and Security Council.
• Elections are held at the UNHQ in New York during the annual UNGA meeting.
• The president and vice-president of the court are elected for three-year terms by secret ballot.
• Judges are eligible for re-election.

India in ICJ

• Four Indians have been members of the ICJ so far.
• Justice Dalveer Bhandari, former judge of the Supreme Court, has been serving at the ICJ since 2012.
• Former Chief Justice of India R S Pathak served from 1989-91, and former Chief Election Commissioner of India Nagendra Singh from 1973-88.
• Singh was also president of the court from 1985-88, and vice-president from 1976-79.
• Before him, Sir Benegal Rau, who was an advisor to the Constituent Assembly, was a member of the ICJ from 1952-53.

Indian cases at the ICJ

• India has been a party to a case at the ICJ on six occasions, four of which have involved Pakistan.

They are:

• Right of Passage over Indian Territory (Portugal v. India, culminated 1960);
• Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council (India v. Pakistan, culminated 1972);
• Trial of Pakistani Prisoners of War (Pakistan v. India, culminated 1973);
• Aerial Incident of 10 August 1999 (Pakistan v. India, culminated 2000);
• Obligations concerning Negotiations relating to Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament (Marshall Islands v. India, culminated 2016); and
• (Kulbhushan) Jadhav (India v. Pakistan, culminated 2019).