Level 8 of 10: The UN and global treaty bodies

International Court of Justice (ICJ)

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It settles legal disputes that states submit to it under international law and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies. The Court says it has 15 judges, elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, no two of whom may share a nationality. It sits at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the only principal UN organ not located in New York, and works in English and French. Under Article 59 of its Statute a decision binds only the parties to that case. As of October 2026 its website lists 24 pending cases. It was established in June 1945 by the UN Charter and began work in April 1946.

Who leads it

• President: Iwasawa Yuji (Japan) (since 2025-03-03) (icj-cij.org)
• Vice-President: Julia Sebutinde (Uganda) (since 2024-02-06) (icj-cij.org)
• Registrar: Santiago Villalpando (Argentina) (since 2026-08-01) (icj-cij.org)

The UK and the ICJ

The UK has a declaration recognising the Court's compulsory jurisdiction, deposited on 22 February 2017, according to the ICJ's declarations page. The ICJ's pending-cases list includes disputes under the Chicago Convention over ICAO Council jurisdiction involving Iran, Canada and other states; check each case page for the parties.

Key figures

What it decides

• Contentious cases: legal disputes between states that have accepted its jurisdiction, by special agreement, treaty clause or compulsory-jurisdiction declaration (Statute, Article 36).
• Advisory opinions on legal questions referred by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies, such as the 2025 climate change opinion.
• Provisional measures orders, which the Court can issue while a case is pending; its President has described the rise in such requests as a concern.
• Preliminary objections and its own jurisdiction: the Statute says disputes over jurisdiction are settled by the Court.
• Applications by third states to intervene in pending cases.
• It applies international conventions, custom and general principles of law, with judicial decisions and scholarly writing as supplementary means (Statute, Article 38).

Timeline

• 1945-06-26: The UN Charter and the Statute of the Court are signed in San Francisco. (icj-cij.org)
• 1945-10-24: The Charter and Statute come into force. (icj-cij.org)
• 1946-02-06: The first members of the Court are elected at the first session of the General Assembly in London. (icj-cij.org)
• 1946-04-18: The Court's inaugural sitting takes place at the Peace Palace. (icj-cij.org)
• 2017-02-22: The United Kingdom deposits its declaration recognising the Court's compulsory jurisdiction. (icj-cij.org)
• 2025-07-23: Advisory opinion on the obligations of states in respect of climate change. (icj-cij.org)
• 2026-05-21: Advisory opinion on the right to strike under ILO Convention No. 87. (icj-cij.org)
• 2026-05-07: Santiago Villalpando is elected Registrar for a seven-year term from 1 August 2026. (icj-cij.org)

How it is held to account

• The Court reports on its activities each year to the UN General Assembly; the report covers 1 August to 31 July and is published on the ICJ website (ICJ annual reports page).
• Judges are elected independently by the General Assembly and the Security Council from nominated lists, and the Statute requires them to be independent and to include no two nationals of one state (Statute, Articles 2 to 4).
• The Court's judgments, advisory opinions and orders are published in full on its website, along with a list of all cases since 1947.
• The Court's President addresses the General Assembly annually, and in 2024 told it that rising workload had strained the Court's budgetary resources.
• Disputes about the Court's jurisdiction are decided by the Court itself under Article 36 of the Statute.

Records you can check

• Pending cases
  Every case currently before the Court with case numbers and status
• List of all cases
  All contentious and advisory cases since 1947 with year of conclusion
• Judgments, advisory opinions and orders
  Full texts of the Court's decisions with dates
• Declarations recognising compulsory jurisdiction
  The states that accept the Court's jurisdiction, with deposit dates and reservations
• Annual reports
  Yearly reports to the UN General Assembly covering 1 August to 31 July
• Current members of the Court
  The 15 judges with nationality and biographies

Common questions

What does the International Court of Justice do?

The ICJ says it settles legal disputes submitted by states in accordance with international law and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies. It is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations and sits at the Peace Palace in The Hague.

How many judges are on the ICJ and who elects them?

There are 15 judges, no two of whom may be nationals of the same state, according to the ICJ Statute. The UN General Assembly and Security Council elect them independently for nine-year terms, and they may be re-elected. The current President is Iwasawa Yuji of Japan.

Are ICJ judgments binding?

The Statute says a decision of the Court has binding force between the parties and in respect of that particular case (Article 59). Advisory opinions are given to the body that asked for them. The ICJ's pages describe its role as judicial: it settles disputes submitted by states and answers legal questions put by UN organs.

What is the difference between the ICJ and the ICC?

The ICJ is a UN organ that decides legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions. The International Criminal Court is a separate, treaty-based court that tries individuals, not states, for the gravest international crimes. Each court publishes its own cases and decisions on its own website, and they have different member states and judges.

How many cases are before the ICJ now?

The ICJ's pending cases page lists 24 cases as of 23 October 2026: three being heard or under deliberation and 21 pending. They include Guyana v. Venezuela, The Gambia v. Myanmar, South Africa v. Israel and Ukraine v. Russian Federation.

Which countries accept the ICJ's compulsory jurisdiction?

The ICJ's declarations page lists 75 states with declarations recognising the Court's compulsory jurisdiction. The United Kingdom is one, with a declaration deposited on 22 February 2017. Others may still appear before the Court by special agreement or under treaty clauses.

Who is the ICJ Registrar?

Santiago Villalpando of Argentina, according to the ICJ. The Court elected him Registrar on 7 May 2026 for a seven-year term effective 1 August 2026. The Registry is the Court's administrative organ. The Deputy-Registrar is Jean-Pelé Fomété of Cameroon, who was first elected in 2013 and re-elected in 2020.

Other bodies at level 8

• Commonwealth of Nations
• International Criminal Court
• International Labour Organization
• Interpol
• NATO
• UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR)
• United Nations (General Assembly and Security Council)
• United Nations Children's Fund
• United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization
• United Nations Human Rights Council
• United Nations Security Council
• World Food Programme
• World Health Organization
• World Trade Organization

Sources

• International Court of Justice home page, read 23 October 2026
• Current Members, read 23 October 2026
• Presidency, read 23 October 2026
• The Registrar, read 23 October 2026
• The Court, read 23 October 2026
• Pending cases, read 23 October 2026
• List of All Cases, read 23 October 2026
• Judgments, Advisory Opinions and Orders, read 23 October 2026
• Declarations recognizing the jurisdiction of the Court as compulsory, read 23 October 2026
• Statute of the Court, read 23 October 2026
• 80th Anniversary of the Court, read 23 October 2026
• Annual Reports, read 23 October 2026
• The President addresses the General Assembly, read 23 October 2026