10 november 2017_final

NAM reaffirms the importance of
International Court of Justice
By Dr. Ankit Srivastava, Editor
The International Court of Justice (ICJ), having its
seat in Hague, serves as the principle judicial organ
of the United Nations. Established in June 1945 by
the Charter of the United Nations, the ICJ’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.
Non-Aligned Movement, based on the principles of
world peace and the establishment of a just and
equitable international order, has reaffirmed the
ICJ’s role towards the same. NAM has endeavoured
to generate further progress to achieve full respect for
international law and, in this regard, commend the
role of the ICJ in promoting the peaceful settlement of
international disputes, in accordance with the relevant
provisions of the UN Charter and the Statute of the ICJ.
NAM Member States reiterated their support for the
role of ICJ at the 72nd session of the United Nations
General Assembly held on 26 October 2017. Iran,
speaking on behalf of the Non-Aligned Movement,
reaffirmed and underscored the group’s principled
position concerning the peaceful settlement of disputes
and the non-use or threat of use of force. The Court had
a significant role to play in promoting and encouraging
the peaceful settlement of international disputes in
accordance with the relevant statutes of the Charter
— especially Articles 33 and 94 — and the Statute of
the Court. The Iranian delegate urged the UN Security
Council to make greater use of it as the principal
judicial organ of the United Nations, including as a
source of interpretation of relevant international law.
Philippines, associating itself with the Non-Aligned
Movement, supported the Court’s efforts to adapt
its working methods in response to its increased
workload and to use multimedia platforms and
the Internet to publicize its decisions. Thailand,
associating itself with the Non-Aligned Movement
expressed full confidence in the ICJ and encouraged its
greater use stressing the integrity and independence
of the judges of the ICJ must be maintained.
News From Non -Aligned World
international peace and security. Underscoring the
possibility for the Assembly, the Security Council
and other authorized organs and specialized agencies
of the United Nations to request advisory opinions,
Bangladesh said that it was advisable to submit cases
to the Court on matters that bore “sufficient weight”
in order to free its growing workload from addressing
issues that could be resolved through other legal and
peaceful means. Bangladesh welcomed the Court’s
expanded outreach efforts and recommending that the
ICJ should consider ways to allow eligible students from
developing and least developed countries to benefit
from hands-on experience working with the Court.
Cuba attached great importance to providing the
budgetary resources required for the Court to
appropriately carry out its work, and in that context,
“Non-Aligned Movement, based on the principles
of world peace and the establishment of a just
and equitable international order, has reaffirmed
the ICJ’s role towards the same. NAM has
endeavoured to generate further progress to achieve
full respect for international law and, in this regard,
commend the role of the ICJ in promoting the
peaceful settlement of international disputes, in
accordance with the relevant provisions of the UN
Charter and the Statute of the ICJ”
appealed for efforts to ensure that those resources arrived
in a timely and appropriate manner. Cuba appreciated
the dissemination of materials from the Court, which
were particularly helpful for developing countries.
NAM Member States have thus echoed their
unanimous support towards the activities and the
functional role of ICJ in establishing the norms of
international law. NAM believes that the activities
of the ICJ enlighten and fuel the development of
legal doctrine, and that the implementation of its
decisions must be ensured. A number of NAM Member
States are also of the opinion that the creditability
of the work of the ICJ is heavily contingent of it
taking into the diverse legal systems and languages.
Bangladesh echoed support for the Court’s crucial
role in upholding the rule of law and maintaining
NAM has also urged that the UN Security Council
should work in close cooperation with the ICJ.
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10 November - 9 December, 2017