Seminar – The International Court of Justice: Process, Protagonists and Potential

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. Based in The Hague, it has jurisdiction to hear contentious cases between States, and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by United Nations organs and specialised agencies. The Court’s docket has dramatically increased in the last decade. Cases recently brought before it have included issues of sovereign immunities, racial discrimination, the use of force, genocide, treaty interpretation, maritime delimitation, boundary disputes, and whaling.

This seminar will provide an in-depth view of the internal processes and practices at the Court. It will address the Court’s mechanisms that take a case from submission to judgment. It will discuss the procedures in each stage of contentious cases, from incidental proceedings (preliminary objections and requests for the indication of provisional measures), through the written and oral proceedings, to the deliberations and drafting that lead to judgments on the merits. It will also touch upon the processes that lead to an advisory opinion.

An intimate portrait of its architecture will give seminar participants a flavour of the Court’s inner workings and character, with a focus on the composition of the bench, the role of the registry, and the configuration of each judge’s office. The seminar will then consider current challenges faced by the Court, as well as the Court’s further potential in fulfilling its mandate to settle international disputes in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations.

Place: Seminar Room 3, Level 3, Block B, NUS Bukit Timah Campus

FREE ADMISSION