Report of the International Court of Justice
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A/74/4 United Nations Report of the International Court of Justice 1 August 2018-31 July 2019 General Assembly Official Records Seventy-fourth Session Supplement No. 4 A/74/4 General Assembly A/74/4 Official Records Seventy-fourth Session Supplement No. 4 Report of the International Court of Justice 1 August 2018–31 July 2019 United Nations • New York, 2019 Note Symbols of United Nations documents are composed of letters combined with figures. Mention of such a symbol indicates a reference to a United Nations document. ISSN 0251-8473 [1 August 2019] Contents Chapter Page I. Summary ...................................................................... 5 II. Role and jurisdiction of the Court ................................................. 13 III. Organization of the Court ........................................................ 15 A. Composition ............................................................... 15 B. Privileges and immunities .................................................... 18 C. Seat ...................................................................... 19 IV. Registry ....................................................................... 20 V. Judicial activity of the Court ...................................................... 22 A. Pending contentious proceedings during the period under review ................... 22 1. Gabčíkovo-Nagymaros Project (Hungary/Slovakia) .......................... 22 2. Armed Activities on the Territory of the Congo (Democratic Republic of the Congo v. Uganda) ...................................................... 22 3. Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile) ........... 24 4. Question of the Delimitation of the Continental Shelf between Nicaragua and Colombia beyond 200 nautical miles from the Nicaraguan Coast (Nicaragua v. Colombia) ............................................................ 25 5. Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia) ................................................ 26 6. Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya) ................. 28 7. Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v. Bolivia) ..... 29 8. Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) ........... 30 9. Certain Iranian Assets (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) ..... 33 10. Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) ..................... 36 11. Jadhav (India v. Pakistan) ............................................... 40 12. Arbitral Award of 3 October 1899 (Guyana v. Venezuela) ...................... 44 13. Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Qatar v. United Arab Emirates) ....................... 46 14. Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) ........................................... 49 19-13600 3/69 15. Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article II, Section 2, of the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agreement (Bahrain, Egypt and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) .................................. 51 16. Alleged violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) 52 17. Relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem (Palestine v. United States of America) ........................................................... 54 18. Guatemala’s Territorial, Insular and Maritime Claim (Guatemala/Belize) ........ 55 B. Pending advisory proceedings during the period under review Legal consequences of the separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 (request for an advisory opinion) ......................................... 56 VI. Visits to the Court and other activities .............................................. 59 VII. Publications and presentation of the Court to the public ............................... 61 VIII. Finances of the Court ............................................................ 64 Annex International Court of Justice: Organizational structure and post distribution of the Registry as at 31 July 2019............................................................... 67 4/69 19-13600 A/74/4 Chapter I Summary 1. Brief overview of the judicial work of the Court 1. During the period under review, the International Court of Justice experienced a particularly high level of activity. Among other things, it delivered judgments in the following cases: (a) Obligation to Negotiate Access to the Pacific Ocean (Bolivia v. Chile), Judgment on the merits of the case (see paras. 88 to 101); (b) Certain Iranian Assets (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America), Judgment on the preliminary objections raised by the Respondent (see paras. 166 to 175); (c) Jadhav (India v. Pakistan), Judgment on the merits of the case (see paras. 192 to 206). 2. The Court also gave its Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences of the Separation of the Chagos Archipelago from Mauritius in 1965 (see paras. 282 to 292). 3. The Court, or its President, also handed down 16 orders (presented here in chronological order): (a) By an Order dated 17 September 2018, the President of the Court fixed the time- limit within which Ukraine might present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation in the case concerning the Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) (paras. 176 to 191); (b) By an Order dated 3 October 2018, the Court indicated provisional measures in the case concerning Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) (see paras. 256 to 267); (c) By an Order dated 10 October 2018, the Court fixed the time-limits for the filing of written pleadings in the case concerning Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) (ibid.); (d) By an Order dated 15 November 2018, the Court directed the submission of a Reply by Chile and a Rejoinder by the Plurinational State of Bolivia, limited to the Respondent’s counter-claims, in the case concerning the Dispute over the Status and Use of the Waters of the Silala (Chile v. Bolivia), and fixed the time- limits for the filing of those written pleadings (see paras. 140 to 151); (e) By an Order dated 15 November 2018, the Court decided that the written pleadings in the case concerning the Relocation of the United States Embassy to Jerusalem (Palestine v. United States of America) would first be addressed to the question of the jurisdiction of the Court and that of the admissibility of the Application, and fixed the time-limits for the filing of a Memorial by the State of Palestine and a Counter-Memorial by the United States of America (see paras. 268 to 273); 19-13600 5/69 A/74/4 (f) By an Order dated 4 December 2018, the Court authorized the submission by Nicaragua of an additional pleading relating solely to the counter-claims submitted by Colombia in the case concerning Alleged Violations of Sovereign Rights and Maritime Spaces in the Caribbean Sea (Nicaragua v. Colombia) and fixed the time-limit for the filing of that pleading (see paras. 113 to 126); (g) By an Order dated 24 January 2019, the Court directed the submission of a Reply by Equatorial Guinea and a Rejoinder by France in the case concerning Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) and fixed the time-limits for the filing of those written pleadings (see paras. 152 to 165); (h) By an Order dated 13 February 2019, the Court fixed the time-limit for the filing of the Counter-Memorial of the United States in the case concerning Certain Iranian Assets (Islamic Republic of Iran v. United States of America) (see paras. 166 to 175); (i) By an Order dated 27 March 2019, the Court directed the submission of a Reply by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates and a Rejoinder by Qatar in the case concerning Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article 84 of the Convention on International Civil Aviation (Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) and fixed the time-limits for the filing of those written pleadings (see paras. 236 to 245); (j) By an Order dated 27 March 2019, the Court directed the submission of a Reply by Bahrain, Egypt and the United Arab Emirates and a Rejoinder by Qatar in the case concerning Appeal Relating to the Jurisdiction of the ICAO Council under Article II, Section 2, of the 1944 International Air Services Transit Agreement (Bahrain, Egypt and United Arab Emirates v. Qatar) and fixed the time-limits for the filing of those written pleadings (see paras. 246 to 255); (k) By an Order dated 8 April 2019, the President of the Court extended the time- limits for the filing of the Memorial of the Islamic Republic of Iran and the Counter-Memorial of the United States in the case concerning