« Si le fait l’accuse, le résultat l’excuse » : l’arrêt de la CIJ sur les exceptions préliminaires dans l’affaire Croatie/Serbie

Abstract

On 18 November 2008, the ICJ ruled that it did have jurisdiction to hear the dispute between Croatia and Serbia, which was accused of violating the 1948 Genocide Convention during the Balkans War. The Court dismissed all of the preliminary objections raised by Serbia. It confirmed first its jurisdiction ratione personae : although Serbia only became a party to the Statute of the Court after the application had been filed, it did have the capacity to act on the day the decision was entered. The Court then acknowledged it had jurisdiction ratione materiae : Serbia has been a party to the Genocide Convention since 27 April 1992 as successor state to the former Yugoslavia. On the objections ratione temporis and the objections relating to the judgment of individuals presumed guilty of international law crimes, to the identification of missing persons and to the return of cultural property, the Court reserved them for examination along with the merits