The 2004 Record of the International Court of Justice

Abstract

This article presents a concise overview of developments relating to the International Court of Justice (ICJ or “the Court”) during 2004, using the General List, Orders, Judgments and Advisory Opinions issued, pleadings filed and hearings held at the Peace Palace in The Hague to describe the Court's most recent record.1 In 2004, the ICJ handed down eight judgments in related cases brought by Serbia and Montenegro against eight NATO Member States, dismissing all of them for lack of jurisdiction. Another judgment in a case between Mexico and the United States found the United States to be in breach of the 1963 Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in connection with certain US capital punishment cases involving Mexican nationals on death row in US prisons. Pursuant to a request of the United Nations General Assembly, the Court also issued an advisory opinion finding that the construction by Israel of a separation barrier in the West Bank and East Jerusalem and its associated regime are contrary to international law.