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The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and the only international court with general jurisdiction over disputes between states. It is often in the news, rarely well understood. Here are ten facts.

1. It was created by the UN Charter

The Court’s Statute is annexed to the Charter of the United Nations, signed in June 1945. It succeeded the Permanent Court of International Justice, which had operated under the League of Nations since 1922. The new Court held its inaugural sitting on 18 April 1946.

2. It sits in a palace built for peace

The Court’s seat is the Peace Palace in The Hague, built between 1907 and 1913 with funds from the American industrialist Andrew Carnegie to house the Permanent Court of Arbitration. It is the only principal organ of the UN not based in New York.

3. Fifteen judges, nine-year terms

The Court has fifteen judges, elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council for nine-year terms, with one third of the seats renewed every three years. No two judges may be nationals of the same state. A state party to a case with no judge of its nationality on the bench may appoint a judge ad hoc.

4. Its first case was about mines in a strait

The Corfu Channel case, brought by the United Kingdom against Albania in May 1947, produced the Court’s first judgments: on jurisdiction in March 1948, on the merits in April 1949 and on compensation in December 1949. The principles it established on state responsibility and passage through straits are still cited.

5. Just over two hundred cases in eighty years

By mid-2026, 202 cases had been entered in the Court’s General List since 1947. Around thirty of these were advisory proceedings, requested by UN organs, and the rest contentious disputes between states. The pace has quickened: the Court’s docket in the 2020s has been the busiest in its history.

6. Advisory opinions carry weight without binding force

The General Assembly, the Security Council and authorised UN agencies may ask the Court for advisory opinions. These are not binding, but they shape international law profoundly. Recent examples include the 2019 opinion on the Chagos Archipelago, the 2025 opinion on states’ obligations in respect of climate change, and the 2025 opinion on Israel’s obligations towards the United Nations.

7. Consent is everything

The Court can decide a contentious case only if both states have consented, whether by special agreement, by a treaty clause, or by a declaration accepting compulsory jurisdiction under Article 36(2) of the Statute. Around seventy states have made such declarations. Neither the United States, which withdrew after the Nicaragua case, nor China, Russia or France currently accepts compulsory jurisdiction.

8. The Rohingya case is being decided now

The Gambia v Myanmar, alleging genocide against the Rohingya under the Genocide Convention, was filed in November 2019. The Court ordered provisional measures in January 2020, rejected Myanmar’s preliminary objections in July 2022, and heard the merits from 12 to 29 January 2026. Eleven states have intervened. Bangladesh, which hosts nearly a million Rohingya refugees, has not, a position generally attributed to its reservation to Article IX of the Genocide Convention. Judgment is awaited.

9. No Bangladeshi has sat on the Court

South Asia has produced several ICJ judges: Sir Benegal Rau, Nagendra Singh, R.S. Pathak and Dalveer Bhandari from India, Sir Muhammad Zafrulla Khan from Pakistan, and Christopher Weeramantry from Sri Lanka. No judge from Bangladesh has yet been elected. Bangladesh’s own maritime boundary cases were decided by ITLOS and an arbitral tribunal, not the ICJ.

10. The presidency changed hands mid-term in 2025

Judge Nawaf Salam of Lebanon resigned as President in January 2025 to become his country’s Prime Minister. Judge Iwasawa Yuji of Japan was elected President on 3 March 2025, with Judge Julia Sebutinde of Uganda as Vice-President. The next triennial election of the presidency is due in February 2027.

A Closing Thought

The Court has no police and no army. Its judgments are enforced, when they are, by the willingness of states to comply and by the pressure of the international community. That the Court is busier than ever suggests that states still find value in a forum where law, rather than power, decides.

Sources

1. International Court of Justice, History: https://www.icj-cij.org/history
2. International Court of Justice, Cases (General List): https://www.icj-cij.org/cases
3. International Court of Justice, Presidency: https://www.icj-cij.org/presidency
4. International Court of Justice, The Gambia v Myanmar, case page: https://www.icj-cij.org/case/178
5. International Court of Justice, All members (past and present judges): https://www.icj-cij.org/all-members
6. Opinio Juris, Article 63 as evidence law: The Gambia v Myanmar and the missing intervener (December 2025): http://opiniojuris.org/2025/12/17/article-63-as-evidence-law-the-gambia-v-myanmar-and-the-missing-intervener/