- The International Court of Justice (commonly referred to as the World Court or ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It is based in the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands.
- The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and other authorized international branches.
- Established in 1945 by the UN Charter, the Court began work in 1946 as the successor to the Permanent Court of International Justice. The Statute of the International Court of Justice, similar to that of its predecessor, is the main constitutional document constituting and regulating the Court.
- The Court’s workload covers a wide range of judicial activity. To date, the ICJ has dealt with relatively few cases. However, since the 1980s there has been a clear increase in willingness to use the Court, especially among developing countries.
- The ICJ is composed of fifteen judges elected to nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration.
- Elections are staggered with five judges elected every three years, in order to ensure continuity within the court.
- Currently, India’s Dalveer Bhandari is one of the judges. He was elected in 2012 and his term ends in 2018.