UN International Court of Justice

Question 1

What is the ICJ?

Answer 1

Principle organ of the UN that resolves disputes between member states

Question 2

How many judges does it have?

Answer 2

15

Question 3

How are the judges elected?

Answer 3

9 year terms

Question 4

Temple of Preah Vihear

Answer 4

900 year old temple on the boarder between Cambodia and Thailand
1962 ICJ gave ownership to Cambodia.
2009-2011 fighting.
2013 ICJ reaffirmed their judgement.

Question 5

How many members agreed to the ICJ taking precedence?

Answer 5

72

Question 6

Strengths

Answer 6

Genuine need for the organ
Upholds the idea of international rule of law
Genuine neutrality in making decisions

Question 7

Weaknesses

Answer 7

Does not have automatic authority to hear cases between states

Question 8

What happened in Rwanda?

Answer 8

1994
Hutu majority government attacked the Tutis minority killing as many as 1 million in 100 days.
1999 enquiry concluded that not enough was done in preventing the genocide
2,500 UN peacekeepers withdrawn

Question 9

What happened in Bosnia?

Answer 9

1995
Serbian forces killed 8,000 muslims in over 10 days
Bosnian Muslims surrendered their weapons to UN days before massacre.
UN Peacekeepers denied to give them them back.
Srebenica declared a peace zone which was ignored
UN Peacekeepers stood aside

Question 10

What happened in Sierra Leone?

Answer 10

1999-2005

prevented the country from relapsing into conflict whilst a peace agreement was put in place

Question 11

India and Pakistan - what happened?

Answer 11

1949

Monitored dispute over border region of Kashmir.