This article is written This article is written by Khushboo Sharma, LLB student of Campus Law Centre, Delhi University during her internship with LeDroit India.

Introduction

There are six main principal organs of United Nations which are: the General Assembly, the Security Council, the Economic and Social Council, the Trusteeship Council, the Secretariat and the International Court of Justice, and also called as the World Court. The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is a principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN) and was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. It is the only one principal organ which does not have a seat in New York (United States of America). It is situated at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).

The Court consists of 15 members, who are elected by The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, for a period of nine years. The role of the Court is to settle the disputes arises between States and gives advisory opinions to the disputed States, in accordance with International Law. English and French are the official languages of this Court.

Members of the Court

There are 15 members elected by The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, for a period of nine years. One-third members are being elected after every three years and judges are eligible for re-election. Elections are to be held in New York (United States of America) during the annual autumn session of the General Assembly. If a judge dies or resigns from his or her term of office, then the special elections are held as soon as possible. Sir BenegalNarsing Rau was the first Indian Judge appointed in ICJ for the period of 1952-1953. Currently, Judge Dal veer Bhandari is serving at ICJ, has been the member of the court since 2012. He is being re-elected in the year of 2018. Till now, four Indian judges had served at ICJ.

The President and Vice-President are being elected after every 3 years through a secret ballot system. These elections are being held on the date on which the elected members of the court at a triennial election begin their term of office. To win the election, absolute majority is required and there are no conditions of nationality. The judges can be re-elected. On 8^th February, 2021; the Court elected Judge Joan E. Donoghue (United States of America) as President and Judge Kirill Gevorgian (Russian Federation) as Vice-President. If the President is absent during the procedure or if he/she is unable to perform his/her duties; then the Vice-President replaces the vacancy of the President for the time being he/she returns to the office in a healthy manner. If the President and Vice-President both are unable to perform their duties, then the senior most judge of the Court will take place.

How the Court works?

The Court takes up two types of cases:

1. Contentious Cases: The parties to the contentious cases are the only states which are states members of the United Nations or which have accepted its jurisdiction under certain conditions. The court decides on the legal disputes going on between the states which are submitted by them. The states may have accepted its jurisdiction as follows:
2. Submitting the dispute by entering into a special agreement;
3. by virtue of a jurisdictional clause, i.e., typically, when they are parties to a treaty containing a provision whereby, in the event of a dispute of a given type or disagreement over the interpretation or application of the treaty, one of them may refer the dispute to the Court;
4. through the reciprocal effect of declarations made by them under the Statute, whereby each has accepted the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory in the event of a dispute with another State having made a similar declaration. These declarations must be deposited with the United Nations Secretary-General, contain reservations excluding certain categories of dispute.

• Advisory Proceedings: Advisory proceedings before the Court are only open to five organs of the United Nations and 16 specialized agencies of the United Nations family or affiliated organizations.

The United Nations General Assembly and Security Council may request advisory opinions on “any legal question”. Other United Nations organs and specialized agencies which have been authorized to seek advisory opinions can only do so with respect to “legal questions arising within the scope of their activities”.

When it receives a request for an advisory opinion the Court must assemble all the facts, and is thus empowered to hold written and oral proceedings, similar to those in contentious cases. In theory, the Court may do without such proceedings, but it has never dispensed with them entirely.

The submitted cases before the ICJ can be resolves in three ways:

1. During the proceedings, the parties can settle among them;
2. If a state withdraws or discontinues from the proceeding at any time;
3. If the court delivers a verdict.

The judgments are delivered in both English and French language and can be questioned by any member. If the opinion of another judge id different, they can submit  their opinions too as the judgments are delivered in open court. 

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