Important Facts for Prelims (28 August 2018)

• 28 Aug 2018

International Court of Justice

• Iran demanded the UN’s top court, The International Court of Justice (ICJ) to suspend U.S nuclear linked sanctions against Tehran, accusing US of plotting its “economic strangulation”.
• ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
• It was established in 1945 by the UN Charter.
• It is seated in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.
• Only UN member states are eligible to appear before the Court in contentious cases.
• The Court has no jurisdiction to deal with applications from individuals, NGOs, corporations or any other private entity.
• It settles legal disputes between member states and gives advisory opinions to authorized UN organs and specialized agencies.
• It comprises a panel of 15 judges elected by the General Assembly and Security Council for nine-year terms.
• The judgments are final and without appeal. If a state fails to agree then the other party can take the case to the Security Council.
• The ICJ is not a criminal court and hence it has no jurisdiction to try individuals accused of war crimes or crimes against humanity.
• ICJ asked Pakistan not to execute Kulbhushan Jadhav till the final verdict in the case is not pronounced by it.
• Justice Dalveer Bhandari is an Indian member of the International Court of Justice.

International Criminal Court

• The International Criminal Court (ICC) is an intergovernmental organization and international tribunal that sits in The Hague in the Netherlands.
• The ICC has the jurisdiction to prosecute individuals for the international crimes of genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes.
• The ICC began functioning on 1 July 2002, the date that the Rome Statute entered into force.
• The Rome Statute is a multilateral treaty which serves as the ICC's foundational and governing document.
• States which become party to the Rome Statute, for example by ratifying it, become member states of the ICC.
• India is not a party to ICC.

Permanent Court of Arbitration

• The Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) is an intergovernmental organization located at The Hague in the Netherlands.
• The PCA is not a court "in the traditional sense" but provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes that arise out of international agreements between member states, international organizations or private parties.
• The cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade.
• The organization is not a United Nations agency, but is an official United Nations Observer.

Indian Ocean Conference

• India’s External Affairs Minister attended the third edition of Indian Ocean Conference on August 27 at Hanoi, the capital of Vietnam.
• The theme of this year’s conference is ‘Building Regional Architectures’ and it saw participation from 43 countries.
• Earlier, the conference was held in Singapore and Sri Lanka in 2016 and 2017 respectively.
• Indian Ocean Conference is organized by India Foundation along with the partners from Singapore, Bangladesh and
• Sri Lanka this is an initiative to bring the state leaders, diplomats and bureaucrats from across the region under one roof to strengthen the understanding among each other.

India Foundation

• India Foundation is an independent think tank based in Delhi, focused on the issues, challenges and opportunities of the Indian polity and foreign affairs.