THE CONTRIBUTION OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE TO THE DEVELOPMENT OF INTERNATIONAL HUMAN RIGHTS LAW

Resumo

It was not until after the disastrous consequences of the Second World War that the pillars of the international human rights system were established.  Thus, in 1948, the Universal Declaration of Human Rights was adopted, whose Preamble and the first article articulate the intrinsic relationship between the principle of human dignity and human rights.  Moreover, three years earlier, the Charter of the United Nations was adopted, whose Preamble also expressed the same relationship.  It was in this Treaty and its Annex that a Court of Justice was established as the main judicial organ of the international order. Heir to the Permanent Court of International Justice, the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is composed of 15 judges and is responsible for deciding legal disputes between states. It also issues advisory opinions on questions submitted to it by UN organs or specialised institutions. However, even though individuals cannot bring cases before the Court, given its very broad competence ratione materiae, it has been adjudicating on human rights issues. Thus, the ICJ has ruled on the following five issues in particular: the right of peoples to self-determination, diplomatic and consular protection, state and individual immunity, the relationship between international humanitarian law and international human rights law, and state responsibility for human rights violations. After analysing the respective cases, we will conclude that, although in general terms there has been an evolution in the jurisprudence of the Court, in certain areas it has followed a conservative line. Finally, we will analyse the provisional measures adopted by the Court recently in the Rohingya genocide case, the first one that a non-injured state has brought an action at the ICJ under the Genocide Convention.