International Court of Justice

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has today rendered its Advisory Opinion in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion). In its Opinion, the Court finds unanimously that it has jurisdiction to give the advisory opinion requested by the United Nations General Assembly and decides by fourteen votes to one to comply with that request. The Court rules that “the construction of the wall being built by Israel, the occupying Power, in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including in and around East Jerusalem, and its associated régime, are contrary to international law”.

The reading of the Advisory Opinion to be rendered by the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion), will be transmitted in full, live, on the Court’s website on Friday 9 July 2004, from 3 p.m. The general public, civil society organizations and the media worldwide, contributed to this decision.

The public hearings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), principal judicial organ of the United Nations, to be held from 23 to 25 February 2004 in the case concerning the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion), will be broadcast live and in full on the Court’s official website (www.icj-cij.org).

By an Order of 30 January 2004 the International Court of Justice decided, by thirteen votes to one, that certain matters brought to the attention of the Court by letters of 31 December 2003 and 15 January 2004 from the Government of Israel, were “not such as to preclude Judge Elaraby from participating in the present case”. In its Order, the Court finds that in the present case the activities of Elaraby were performed in his capacity of a diplomatic representative of his country, most of them many years before the question of the wall, now submitted for advisory opinion, arose.

The United Nations, 44 of its Member States, Palestine, the League of Arab States and the Organisation of the Islamic Conference have filed written statements within the time-limit fixed by the International Court of Justice by an Order of 19 December 2004 in the case concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. The time-limit fixed was 30 January 2004. On 8 December 2003, the General Assembly of the United Nations adopted a resolution in which, referring to Article 65 of the Statute of the Court, it requested the International Court of Justice.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has authorized the Organization of the Islamic Conference, at its request, to participate in the proceedings in the case concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory. By a letter dated 14 January 2004, the General Secretariat of the Organization of the Islamic Conference requested that the Organization be authorized to furnish information on the question submitted to the Court.

The International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has authorized the League of Arab States, at its request, to participate in the proceedings in the case concerning Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory (request for advisory opinion). By a letter dated 29 December 2003, the Secretary General of the League of Arab States, Mr. Amre Moussa, requested that the League be invited to furnish information, in writing and orally, on the question submitted to the Court.

Further to the request by the General Assembly of the United Nations to the International Court of Justice “to urgently render an advisory opinion” on the question of the Legal Consequences of the Construction of a Wall in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, the International Court of Justice today made an Order organizing the proceedings. The Court takes all necesssary steps to accelerate the procedure. It fixed 30 January 2004 as deadline before the United Nations and its Member States could submit to the Court written statements.