Conflict Settlement by the International Court of Justice

Abstract

It is the purpose of this study to explore the legal grounds supporting or constraining the exercise of such function by the ICJ. The study is also intended to show the risks and benefits of the Court’s involvement in the peace building processes. The analysis will start with the establishment of the Court’s place in the collective security system as designed by the UN Charter. It will then analyse the Court’s practice with regard to the cases concerned with the breaches of international peace and security. Special attention will be given to the cases where the Court was asked to intervene while the conflicts were still ongoing. The study will first present the jurisdictional challenges the Court is facing when entertaining these cases and the inventive approaches of the states in their effort to overcome jurisdictional hurdles. It will then proceed with an analysis of the instruments which are at the disposal of the Court when deciding upon such claims. In the end, the problem of non-compliance with the Court’s decisions in the context of international violence will be briefly presented. It is the position of this study that the increasing activity of the ICJ in the context of conflict management cannot be observed in isolation, but that the entire system of collective security must be taken in consideration when assessing the risks and benefits of the Court’s active involvement in international conflicts.The paper was presented at the international symposium Problems and Procedures of National and International Conflict Settlement: South Eastern Europe as Conflict Area and Other Examples, Inter-University Centre Berlin/Split, Free University of Berlin, 9-10 July 2010.