OUVRAGE : B. Ramcharan, Modernizing the Role of the International Court of Justice

Bertrand RAMCHARAN

This book discusses the future role of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in a world facing survival challenges. It discusses threats such as climate change, environmental degradation and pandemics, and argues that in the future the ICJ will need to carry out judicial, security and protection functions as it is the only organ of the United Nations (UN) that can discharge such functions in view of its independence and expertise. The author proposes that the ICJ can apply a hitherto unused jurisdictional provision in Article 36 of its Statute that allows it to deal with "all matters specially provided for in the UN Charter" and presents three examples of issues that would require the urgent attention of the ICJ: vaccine equity in a global pandemic, climate disaster, and mass movements of people across frontiers due to climate change and environmental degradation.

TABLE OF CONTENTS

Introduction

The Judicial Function, the Security Function, and the Protection Function in the Evolving International Legal Order 

The ICJ’s Jurisdiction Includes ‘All Matters Specially Provided for in the Charter of the UN’ 

The Role of the UN’s Principal Judicial Organ in a World Facing Existential Threats and Crises

The World Court and the Enhancement of International Authority

A Global Security Jurisdiction for the World Court

An International Protection Role for the ICJ

A Judicial Review Role for the ICJ

Conclusion 

Bertrand RAMCHARAN, Modernizing the Role of the International Court of Justice, The Hague, T.M.C. Asser Press, 2022 (195 pp.) 

Bertrand Ramcharan (Guyana) is a Barrister-at-Law of Lincoln’s Inn with a Doctorate in international law from the London School of Economics (LSE) and the Diploma in International Law of the Hague Academy of International Law. He was LSE International Law Scholar and has been Commissioner of the International Commission of Jurists and a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. He has also been Director of the Research Centre of the Hague Academy of International Law (The Right to Life), Professor at the Geneva Graduate Institute, and Chancellor of the University of Guyana. He is a former Chief speech-writer of the UN Secretary-General, and has performed the functions of UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. His doctoral thesis was on the approach of the International Law Commission to the codification and progressive development of international law.