The role of the international court of justice in actualising global peace
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The role of the international court of justice in actualising global peace Eti Best Herbert
The Indian Society of International Law 2020
Abstract The failure of the League of Nations to prevent the Second World War necessitated the creation of the United Nations, in an attempt to prevent a reoccurrence of the kind of carnage that manifested during the war. The International Court of Justice and other institutions were, thus, created under the United Nations Charter to guarantee world peace. The International Court of Justice was created as the judicial arm of the United Nations to replace the Permanent Court of International Justice operating under the defunct League of Nations. Members of the United Nations are, by the United Nations Charter, automatic signatories to the International Court of Justice Statute. The Court serves as avenue for States to ventilate their grievances in the event of any dispute arising between them. However, the Court is limited in its exercise of adjudicatory powers over matters between States, unless they submit themselves to the jurisdiction of the Court. Also, the political power tussle between permanent members of the Security Council has, on several instances, undermined the efforts of the International Court of Justice to ensure peaceful resolution of conflicts between States. This paper contends that unless these issues are effectively resolved, the role of the International Court of Justice in ensuring global peace may become elusive. Also, the politicisation of international law by States would suggest that other pacific measures of settling international dispute, such as: mediation, conciliation and arbitration, should be given more consideration, as a sole resort to litigation could overwhelm the International Court of Justice. Keywords International court of justice United nations Security council Global peace L.B (Uyo); B.L.; LL.M (Ibadan) Private Legal Practitioner and Legal Research Consultant Eti Best Herbert (&) University of Ibadan, Adeoyo Street, Beside El Shaddai Baptist Church, Agbowo, Ibadan, Oyo State, Nigeria e-mail: [email protected]
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Eti Best Herbert
1 Introduction The United Nations (UN) Charter basically and largely recognises the Security Council1 as being responsible for the maintenance of global peace.2 However, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), had in a number of cases,3 stated that the primary responsibility cannot, by any stretch of imagination, be interpreted to mean exclusive responsibility. Neither did the court exclude the possibility of exercising similar responsibility in that regard.4 This suggests that the ICJ is a veritable international law mechanism for ensuring global peace. More so, it is a judicial body that is sometimes presented with the opportunity to resolve disputes. If these disputes are not well handled, it could lead to outbreak of war and devastation of humanity. The ICJ can best realise its goal of maintaining global peace when it performs more conflict prevention than conflict resolution function, in
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