Provisional measure of protection

Last updated

A provisional measure of protection is the term that the International Court of Justice (ICJ, World Court) uses to describe a procedure "roughly equivalent" [1] to an interim order (which can be either a temporary restraining order or a temporary directive order) in national legal systems. The order has also been termed in the press as preliminary measures. [2] The carrying out of the procedure is termed indicating the provisional measure of protection. [1] Requests for the indication of provisional measures of protection take priority over all other cases before the ICJ due to their urgency. [1]

History

As of July 2018, the ICJ had dealt with 36 requests for the indication of provisional measures of protection (the number does not include multiple simultaneous versions of nearly-identical cases; it counts the "Legality of the Use of Force" cases once rather than ten times, but it includes multiple requests arising at different times in the same case by counting the 2004 Avena case twice). [3] In 1989, that number was twelve. [1]

Some of the parties involved include Iran, Pakistan, the United States, Nicaragua, [4] Burkina Faso, and Mali. [1]

On August 13, 2008, during the 2008 South Ossetia War, Georgia submitted a request for the indication of provisional measures of protection. The request was approved by a vote of 8 to 7. [5]

In January 2020, The Gambia successfully obtained an ICJ order for preliminary measures against Myanmar "to take urgent measures to protect its Muslim Rohingya population from persecution and atrocities, and preserve evidence of alleged crimes against them" under an enforcement of the 1948 Genocide Convention. The injunction had been registered with the Court some 60 days earlier. The 17-member court issued a unanimous decision. The final ruling might take years to be issued although the preliminary measures order called for the government of Myanmar to report its compliance within four months. [2]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International Court of Justice</span> Primary judicial organ of the United Nations

The International Court of Justice, also called the World Court, is the only international court that adjudicates general disputes between nations, and gives advisory opinions on international legal issues. It is one of the six organs of the United Nations (UN), and is located in The Hague, Netherlands.

The Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (CPPCG), or the Genocide Convention, is an international treaty that criminalizes genocide and obligates state parties to pursue the enforcement of its prohibition. It was the first legal instrument to codify genocide as a crime, and the first human rights treaty unanimously adopted by the United Nations General Assembly, on 9 December 1948, during the third session of the United Nations General Assembly. The Convention entered into force on 12 January 1951 and has 152 state parties as of 2022.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Human rights in Myanmar</span> Overview of human rights in Myanmar

Human rights in Myanmar under its military regime have long been regarded as among the worst in the world. In 2022, Freedom House rated Myanmar’s human rights at 9 out 100.

In legal terminology, erga omnes rights or obligations are owed toward all. Erga omnes is a Latin phrase which means "towards all" or "towards everyone". For instance, a property right is an erga omnes entitlement and therefore enforceable against anybody infringing that right.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohingya people</span> Indo-Aryan ethnic group of western Myanmar

The Rohingya people are a stateless Indo-Aryan ethnic group who predominantly follow Islam and reside in Rakhine State, Myanmar. Before the Rohingya genocide in 2017, when over 740,000 fled to Bangladesh, an estimated 1.4 million Rohingya lived in Myanmar. Described by journalists and news outlets as one of the most persecuted minorities in the world, the Rohingya are denied citizenship under the 1982 Myanmar nationality law. There are also restrictions on their freedom of movement, access to state education and civil service jobs. The legal conditions faced by the Rohingya in Myanmar have been compared to apartheid by some academics, analysts and political figures, including Nobel laureate Bishop Desmond Tutu, a South African anti-apartheid activist. The most recent mass displacement of Rohingya in 2017 led the International Criminal Court to investigate crimes against humanity, and the International Court of Justice to investigate genocide.

The International Court of Justice has jurisdiction in two types of cases: contentious cases between states in which the court produces binding rulings between states that agree, or have previously agreed, to submit to the ruling of the court; and advisory opinions, which provide reasoned, but non-binding, rulings on properly submitted questions of international law, usually at the request of the United Nations General Assembly. Advisory opinions do not have to concern particular controversies between states, though they often do.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Bosnian genocide case</span> 2007 International Court of Justice decision

Bosnia and Herzegovina v Serbia and Montenegro [2007] ICJ 2 is a public international law case decided by the International Court of Justice.

<i>United States Diplomatic and Consular Staff in Tehran</i>

United States of America v. Islamic Republic of Iran [1980] ICJ 1 is a public international law case brought to the International Court of Justice by the United States of America against Iran in response to the Iran hostage crisis, where United States diplomatic offices and personnel were seized by militant revolutionaries.

<i>Corfu Channel</i> case 1947-49 International Court of Justice case on sea law

The Corfu Channel case was the first public international law case heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) between 1947 and 1949, concerning state responsibility for damages at sea, as well as the doctrine of innocent passage. A contentious case, it was the first of any type heard by the ICJ after its establishment in 1945.

<i>Advisory opinion on Kosovos declaration of independence</i> International Court of Justice opinion (2010)

Accordance with International Law of the Unilateral Declaration of Independence in Respect of Kosovo was a request in 2008 for an advisory opinion referred to the International Court of Justice by the United Nations General Assembly regarding the 2008 Kosovo declaration of independence. The territory of Kosovo is the subject of a dispute between Serbia and the Republic of Kosovo established by the declaration. This was the first case regarding a unilateral declaration of independence to be brought before the court.

<i>Avena</i> case ICJ Court Case

The Case Concerning Avena and Other Mexican Nationals , more commonly the Avena case, was a case heard before the International Court of Justice (ICJ). In its judgment of 31 March 2004, the Court found that the United States had breached its obligations under the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations in not allowing legal representation from the Mexican consulate to meet with Mexican citizens arrested and imprisoned for crimes in the United States.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohingya genocide</span> Ongoing ethnic cleansing in Myanmar

The Rohingya genocide is a series of ongoing persecutions and killings of the Muslim Rohingya people by the military of Myanmar. The genocide has consisted of two phases to date: the first was a military crackdown that occurred from October 2016 to January 2017, and the second has been occurring since August 2017. The crisis forced over a million Rohingya to flee to other countries. Most fled to Bangladesh, resulting in the creation of the world's largest refugee camp, while others escaped to India, Thailand, Malaysia, and other parts of South and Southeast Asia, where they continue to face persecution. Many other countries consider these events ethnic cleansing.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">International reactions to the Rohingya genocide</span>

The Rohingya genocide is a term applied to the persecution—including mass killings, mass rapes, village-burnings, deprivations, ethnic cleansing, and internments—of the Rohingya people of western Myanmar.

<i>Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity</i> (Iran v. United States)

Alleged Violations of the 1955 Treaty of Amity, Economic Relations, and Consular Rights is the formal name of a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Iran filed a lawsuit with the Hague-based ICJ against the United States, on 16 July 2018, mainly based on the 1955 Treaty of Amity signed between the two sides on 15 August 1955 and entered into force in 1957, well before the Islamic revolution of Iran. Iranian officials alleged that U.S. re-imposition of the nuclear sanctions was a violation of the treaty. Iran also filed a request for provisional measures. In response, the United States asserted that the lawsuit as "baseless" and vowed to oppose it. Almost a month later, the ICJ heard the provisional measures request. On 3 October 2018, the International Court of Justice issued a provisional measures order requiring the United States "to lift sanctions linked to humanitarian goods and civil aviation imposed against Iran."

<i>Ukraine v. Russian Federation</i> (2019) Case at the International Court of Justice

The case Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a case in the International Court of Justice (ICJ). On January 16, 2017, a representative of Ukraine filed a lawsuit at the International Court of Justice to hold the Russian Federation liable for committing acts of "terrorism" and discrimination against Ukraine. The lawsuit alleges violations of the Terrorist Financing Convention and International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Rohingya genocide case</span> 2019 International Court of Justice case

The Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide , commonly referred to as the Rohingya genocide case, is a case which is currently being heard by the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The case was brought forward by the Republic of The Gambia, on behalf of 57 members of the Organisation of Islamic Cooperation in 2019.

<i>Republic of Armenia v. Republic of Azerbaijan</i>

Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination is a court case at The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The public hearings were held on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by the Republic of Armenia in the case concerning application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination on Thursday 14 and Friday 15 October 2021, at The Hague Peace Palace - the seat of the Court.

<i>Ukraine v. Russian Federation</i> (2022) International Court of Justice case

Allegations of Genocide under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide is a case brought before the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was submitted by Ukraine on 26 February 2022 against Russia following the latter's invasion of Ukraine in 2022, which Russia sought to justify in part by claims that Ukraine was engaged in acts of genocide within the Luhansk and Donetsk oblasts. Ukraine said that these claims gave rise to a dispute under the 1948 Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide, and based its application on the ICJ's jurisdiction to resolve disputes involving the convention. On 16 March 2022, the court ruled that Russia must "immediately suspend the military operations" in Ukraine, while waiting for the final decision on the case.

<i>South Africa v. Israel</i> (Genocide Convention) 2023 case at International Court of Justice

The proceedings instituted by South Africa against Israel on 29 December 2023 before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) are officially referred to as Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip .

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5 Rosenne, Shabtai; Terry D. Gill (1989). The World Court: What it is and how it works. Leiden: Brill Publishers. p. 320. ISBN   978-90-247-3772-7., see page 95.
  2. 1 2 "UN court orders Myanmar to protect Rohingya from atrocities". CBC. Thomson Reuters. 23 January 2020.
  3. ↑ International Court of Justice. "Contentious cases organized by incidental proceedings: Provisional measures" . Retrieved 20 July 2018.
  4. ↑ "Request for the indication of provisional measures of protection submitted by the government of Nicaragua" (PDF). International Court of Justice. 1984. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-10-13. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
  5. ↑ "Request for the indication of provisional measures of protection submitted by the government of the Republic of Georgia" (PDF). government of Georgia. 2008-08-13. Archived from the original (PDF) on 2008-11-16. Retrieved 2009-01-01.
This page is based on this Wikipedia article
Text is available under the CC BY-SA 4.0 license; additional terms may apply.
Images, videos and audio are available under their respective licenses.