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International Court of Justice (ICJ) logo

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

Principal judicial organ of the UN — state responsibility · The Hague, Netherlands · est. 1945

Judicial — binding rulings

Adjudicates disputes between states under the Genocide Convention (Bosnia v. Serbia, 2007; The Gambia v. Myanmar, ongoing). Its findings are the highest authority on state responsibility for genocide.

Funding & financing

Financed through the regular budget of the United Nations (assessed contributions from member states).

Affiliations

A UN organ. Fifteen judges elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

Credibility & caveats

Rulings are binding between the parties, but jurisdiction depends on state consent, cases take years, and the Court rules on state responsibility — not individual guilt.

Membership & leadership

Fifteen judges are elected by absolute majorities in the UN General Assembly and Security Council (often concurrently) for nine-year terms; no two judges may be nationals of the same state. The president and vice-president are elected by the Court from among its members for three-year terms. There is no general membership — only elected judges and registry staff.

Leadership & members

Named individuals reflect leadership at the time of writing; linked names have individual profiles in this record. See membership & leadership above for how they are selected.

People profiled in this record

On the record

Verbatim quotations in this project attributed to this body or its officials.

  • “The acts committed at Srebrenica ... were committed with the specific intent to destroy in part the group of the Muslims of Bosnia and Herzegovina as such; and accordingly ... these were acts of genocide.”

    Case: srebrenica →

Cases in this record

Sources & disclosures