UNITED NATIONS, Oct. 30 (Xinhua) -- Head of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Abdulqawi Yusuf, on Wednesday warned against possible budget cuts for the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.
The ICJ budget, compared to its considerable responsibilities under its mandate and its growing caseload, remains extremely modest, representing less than 1 percent of the UN regular budget, Yusuf told the UN General Assembly.
The ICJ is aware of the fact that the United Nations as a whole is currently facing financial constraints, which has led to a cash flow crisis, he said.
"In these difficult circumstances, the court understands the efforts made by the organization's other organs and programs in seeking to reduce budgetary expenses. However, it is important to strike the right balance between budgetary austerity and the absolute need to ensure the integrity of the court's judicial functions and its ability to carry out its statutory mission," he said in his annual report to the General Assembly, which is responsible for approving UN budgets, including ICJ budgets.
"The court must be given the means to carry out its work in the service of sovereign states and the international community, in accordance with the relevant provisions of the (UN) Charter and the court's statute."
The ICJ has no control over the volume of its work, he noted. It cannot foresee the number of contentious cases and advisory proceedings that will make up its docket in a given year or the number of urgent incidental proceedings that it will be called upon to deal with. Unlike other organs of the United Nations, it does not have programs that may be cut or expanded. It cannot turn away governments that have submitted disputes to it or put such disputes on hold for years due to budgetary cuts.
There is, therefore, a real sense of disquiet that the budgetary restrictions in place may undermine the court's ability to meet the challenges of its substantial workload, said Yusuf. "It is, of course, in the interests of the entire organization that the court is able to fully achieve its guiding purposes of justice and the rule of law, in a manner which moreover constitutes without a doubt an extremely cost-effective means of settling disputes peacefully."
"I wish to stress this point at a time when the number of cases on the court's docket remains very high," he noted.
Since Aug. 1, 2018, the starting date of the period covered by the court's annual report, the court's docket has remained full, with 16 contentious cases currently pending before the court even though a number of other cases have been disposed of during the past year, said Yusuf.
"As my presentation today will show, the cases before the court involve states from all regions of the world and touch on a wide range of issues, including questions of consular protection, the formation of customary rules of international law in the area of decolonization, and maritime and territorial disputes."
Between Aug. 1, 2018 and July 31, 2019, the ICJ held hearings in five contentious cases and one advisory procedure. It delivered three judgments, one advisory opinion and two orders on provisional measures, he said.
Yusuf said the ICJ is gaining credibility.
On Sept. 30, 2019, the ICJ Registry received a depositary notification concerning the declaration of Latvia accepting the jurisdiction of the court as compulsory, bringing the total number of such states to 74, he said.
"Much remains to be done before the court is empowered to settle all disputes between all states, and to anchor even further the rule of law at the international level," he said. "The pace might be slow. But the trend toward a wider acceptance of the compulsory jurisdiction of the court in the international community is quite clear."
