In connection with meetings at the Peace Palace (left) last week and the recent visit of Dame Rosalyn Higgins to Santa Clara, I had occasion to take a peek at the current docket of the International Court of Justice. The ICJ has entertained 150 cases since its inception in 1947. At the moment, 16 cases are pending on its docket—more than at any other point in history. I asked Judge Higgins about the more frequent resort to the Court and she credited several factors, including an increased faith in the ability of international law to resolve disputes, a recognition of the Court's ability to render just and efficient outcomes, and greater litigiousness generally.Among the cases pending before the ICJ (another of whose judges, as we've posted here and here, will be in the Bay Area this week), we see:
► Frontier disputes:
- Territorial and Maritime Dispute (Nicaragua v. Colombia);
- Maritime Dispute (Peru v. Chile); and
- Frontier Dispute (Burkina Faso v. Niger).
► Near and dear to my heart, are several cases involving international criminal law:
- Jurisdictional Immunities of the State (Germany v. Italy). This case involves the willingness of Italy to entertain civil claims arising out of WWII that Germany argues are barred by immunity doctrines and were waived in a web of post-war treaties. Greece has recently requested permission to intervene on the ground that its legal interests could be affected by the Court’s decision, because Italy is also accused of enforcing Greek judgments based on occurrences similar to those underlying the main suit. As we’ve blogged before, Italy's counterclaims against Germany were rejected on temporal jurisdictional grounds.
- Questions relating to the Obligation to Prosecute or Extradite (Belgium v. Senegal). This case concerns Senegal's compliance with its obligations to extradite or prosecute the former President of Chad, Hissène Habré. As our readers will recall, after the African Union mandated Senegal to prosecute Habré “on behalf of Africa,” Senegal indicated that it would begin pretrial proceedings once it received the necessary international funding, which is estimated at $11.7 million. Donors met in November 2010 to consider the financing of the prosecution of Habré. For more on the case, see Human Rights Watch's coverage.
- A case squarely presenting the question of the legality of the exercise of universal jurisdiction (a question that was dodged by the majority of the ICJ on non ultra petita grounds in Arrest Warrant of 11 April 2000 (DRC v. Belgium)), was recently withdrawn by the parties. Certain Criminal Proceedings in France (Republic of Congo v. France).
► Cases involving claims of violations of territorial integrity and the prohibition on uses of force:
- Certain Activities Carried out by Nicaragua in the Border Area (Costa Rica v. Nicaragua) and
- Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (DRC v. Uganda), which remains pending.
► Human rights
- Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Croatia v. Serbia);
- Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Georgia v. Russian Federation); and
- Ahmadou Sadio Diallo (Guinea v. DRC), an expropriation case.
- Jurisdiction and Enforcement of Judgments in Civil and Commercial Matters (Belgium v. Switzerland), involving the enforcement of judgments under the Lugano Convention.
In addition to these contentious cases, there is one matter invoking the Court's advisory jurisdiction. Judgment No.2867 of the Administrative Tribunal of the International Labour Organization upon a Complaint Filed against the International Fund for Agricultural Development relates to a complaint filed against IFAD on a terminated employment contract that went before the ILO.
Busy times at the ICJ indeed.
