THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMANITARIAN RULES AND PRINCIPLES
In spite of the fact that the International Court of Justice (hereinafter ‘the Court’ or the‘ICJ’), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations1 might not be the first internationalcourt to come to mind concerning International Humanitarian Law (IHL)2, it is argued inthis study that its judgments and advisory opinions serve as a base both for the development3of this field of law (IHL), and for the process called “humanization of international law” Grounded on such a point, the purpose of this article is instantiated as to address the relevantjurisprudence of the ICJ regarding IHL such as -contentious cases and advisory opinionsof- Corfu Channel Case5, Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua6,Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons7, Legal Consequences of the Constructionof a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory8 and Armed Activities on the Territoryof Congo9 and to examine these cases for identifying how the Court has approached to thebasic general principles of IHL and then to investigate whether it has -through the findingsof these cases submitted and the requests of advisory opinions transmitted-, really madeany noteworthy and/or original contribution to it, as assumed in the article.To that end, first of all, a general introduction of the subject will be sketched out by focusingspesifically on the (positive) influence of the increase in the rhetoric of the notion of“humanitarian” in international law on the norms of IHL. Following the Introduction,an overview of the significance and the role of international courts and tribunals in internationallaw in general will be given place and discussed briefly. As the underlyingaspect of the study, this part is also planned so as to constitute the primary legal theoreticalframework of the research. In order to achieve our main purpose, starting withthe reasons of the ICJ’s distinguishing role and importance for the matter at hand, nextsection of the article will be devoted to analyzing the case law mentioned above. Lastlyin the Conclusion part, in the light of all these cases, the contribution of the ICJ to IHLwill be attempted to be assessed.
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- A/RES/ES-10/14, 12 December 2003, “Illegal Israeli actions in Occupied East Jerusalem and the rest of the Occupied Palestinian Territory”
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the Red Cross, No.259, July-August 1987, Geneva, p.367-375
- Annual Report of Secretary-General to General Assembly, SG/SM/7136
Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of
the Congo v. Uganda), Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 2005, p.168.
- Barcelona Traction, Light and Power Company, Limited, Second Phase,
Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1970, p.32, para.33.
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to International Humanitarian Law, IRRC, Vol. 85 No. 850, June 2003,
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- Corfu Channel Case, Judgment of April 9th, 1949: ICJ Reports, p. 4.
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Series A no. 303-C, (1995) 20 EHRR 277.
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article/other/57jq2x.htm
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3, 1992, p.240-244.
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- Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian
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- Legality of the Threat or Use of Nuclear Weapons, Advisory Opinion, ICJ
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- LUBAN, David ; Human Rights Thinking and the Laws of War, Georgetown
University Law Center, 2015, Çevrimiçi: http://ssrn.com/abstract=
2589082).
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Military and Paramilitary Activities in and against Nicaragua (Nicaragua v.
United States of America), Merits, Judgment, ICJ Reports 1986, p. 14.
North Sea Continental Shelf, Judgment, I.C.J. Reports 1969, p. 3.
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United Nations General Assembly Resolution 2625(XXV) entitled ‘Declaration
on Principles of International Law concerning Friendly Relations
and Co-operation among States.