The International Court of Justice (ICJ)
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York (United States of America). The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies. The Court is composed of 15 judges, who are elected for terms of office of nine years by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. It is assisted by a Registry, its administrative organ. Its official languages are English and French.
The Registry is the permanent administrative secretariat of the Court. It is accountable to the Court alone. It is headed by a Registrar, assisted by a Deputy-Registrar. Since the Court is both a court of justice and an international organization, the Registry’s tasks are not only those of a service helping in the administration of justice – with sovereign States as litigants – but also those of an international secretariat. Its activities are both judicial and diplomatic, as well as administrative. The Registry consists of three Departments (Legal Matters; Linguistic Matters; Information), a number of technical Divisions (Personnel/Administration; Finance; Publications; Library; IT; Archives, Indexing and Distribution; Text Processing and Reproduction; Security and General Assistance) and the secretaries to Members of the Court. It currently comprises some 100 officials, either permanent or holding fixed-term contracts, appointed by the Court or the Registrar. All officials take an oath of loyalty and discretion on commencing their duties. Essentially, they enjoy the same privileges and immunities as members of comparable missions of diplomatic rank in The Hague. They are subject to Staff Regulations, which are virtually identical to the United Nations Staff Regulations, and to Instructions for the Registry. Their conditions of employment, salaries and pension rights are the same as those of United Nations officials of the equivalent category and grade; the costs are borne by the United Nations.
The International Court of Justice acts as a world court. The Court’s jurisdiction is twofold: it decides, in accordance with international law, disputes of a legal nature that are submitted to it by States (jurisdiction in contentious cases); and it gives advisory opinions on legal questions at the request of the organs of the United Nations, specialized agencies or one related organization authorized to make such a request (advisory jurisdiction).
NB: The content above is directly from the offcial website of the Internatioanl Court of Justice and is publish here to ease research about the court. You can discover more through the link Below: Home | International Court of Justice (icj-cij.org)
Berinyuy Cajetan is the founder and publisher of Human Rights and Legal Research Centre (HRLRC) since 2017. He has intensive experience in strategic communications for Civil Society Organizations, campaign and advocacy, and social issues. He has an intensive experiencing in human rights monitoring, documentation and reporting.
