Resort to traditional means

States have increasingly resorted to traditional means to settle disputes.

Inquiry (fact-finding)

· Has increasingly acquired importance as a means of establishing facts employed by int’l organizations

o ILO, UN SC, Council of Int’l Civil Aviation Organization – all organizations which are empowered to and have frequently resorted to inquiry

Mediation

· Has been resorted to also.

o e.g. Chile and Argentina asked Pope John Paul II to mediate dispute between them over the Beagle Channel, they made an agreement after Pope’s proposals, suggestions and advice (1979)

o e.g. Carter and Camp David Agreement

o e.g. Group of Contact mediated between conflicting states of former Yugoslavia to reach Dayton Accord / Paris agreement (1995)

o e.g. President of Finland and former Russian Prime Minister had task of finding a political settlement in Kosovo Crisis (1999)

Arbitration and Adjudication

· Increasing number of states (particularly socialist and developing countries) have submitted disputes to ICJ. Western states, have tended to shun the court.

· As a result, ICJ has pronounced on a number of politically sensitive issues such as self-defence, indirect armed aggression, self-determination of peoples, the legality of the threat or use of nuclear weapons, genocide, etc.

· Methods of Acquiring Jurisdiction

· Optional clause of Statute of ICJ – every state can declare that it accepts ipso facto and without special agreement the compulsory jurisdiction of the court in relation to any other state accepting the same obligation (Art. 36.2)

o Consent method (forum prorogatum) – state institutes proceedings before court against another state that has not previously accepted Court’s jurisdiction. If by some acts, like appearing in Court to argue case, the respondent state shows that it accepts the court’s jurisdiction, the Court is empowered to pronounce on merits of case

- First set up by PCIJ in 1925 in Mavrommatis Palestine Concessions case (Greece v. Great Britain), confirmed by ICJ in 1951 in Haya de la Torre Case (Colombia v. Peru)

· Proliferation of permanent or semi-permanent international courts and tribunals

o e.g. European Court on Human Rights and Inter-American on Human Rights, Int’l Tribunal on Law of the Seas, ICTY and ICTR (ad hoc criminal tribunals), Special Court for Sierra Leone, Iran-US Claims Tribunal

· Some consider multiplication of international arbitral or judicial bodies as likely to lead do discrepancies, fragmentation and incoherencies in int’l law.

· Has been suggested that ICJ should have the final word on int’l legal issues.

Дата добавления: 2015-11-16