Structure of the United Nations- The International Court of Justice, Secretariat

The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations located in The Hague, Netherlands, its seat is at the Peace Palace in the Hague (Netherlands). It is the only one of the six principal organs of the United Nations not located in New York (United States of America). The Court consists of 15 Judges from different countries elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council. They are elected for a nine-year term.

No two judges can be citizens of the same country. The Court’s role is to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized United Nations organs and specialized agencies.

Functions of the International Court of Justice:

(1) To settle disputes brought to it by member nations.

(2) To provide legal advice to any organon the UN on request.

(3) The International court of Justice also has advisory jurisdiction and in its advisory jurisdiction the Court may give advice to the General Assembly, Security Council or any member state as the case may be.

Ways to Resolve the Cases by ICJ (International Court of Justice).

(1) they can be settled by the parties at any time during the proceedings.

(2) a state can discontinue the proceedings and withdraw at any point; or

(3) the court can deliver a verdict. The ICJ decides disputes in accordance with international law as reflected in international conventions, international custom, general principles of law recognized by civilized nations, judicial decisions, and writings of the most highly qualified experts on international law.

Although the judges deliberate in secret, their verdicts—rendered in both English and French—are delivered in open court. Any judge who does not agree in whole or in part with the court’s decision may file a separate opinion, and few decisions represent the unanimous opinion of the judges. The court’s judgment is final and without appeal.

Secretariat:

The Secretariat comprises the Secretary-General and tens of thousands of international UN staff members who carry out the day-to-day work of the UN as mandated by the General Assembly and the Organization’s other principal organs.

The Secretariat is the principal administrative department of the UN. It is headed by the Secretary-General appointed by the General Assembly on the recommendation of the Security Council for a term of five years. He can be re-elected. The staff of the Secretariat is appointed by the Secretary-General. They are chosen from among the 192 member countries.

Note:

(1) In addition to a rotating membership of 54 UN member states, over 1,600 nongovernmental organizations have consultative status with the Council to participate in the work of the United Nations.

(2) United Nations can achieve success only if the member states cooperate with it. All member countries must abide by the policies and programmed of the United Nations if the latter is to succeed as a peace-keeping organization.

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Functions of Secretariat of United Nations.

1)To gather and prepare background information on various issues so that government delegates can study the facts and make recommendations.

2) To help carry out the decisions made by the different organs of the United Nations.

3)The Secretariat carries out the diverse day-to-daywork of the organization.

4)It services the other principal organs of the United Nations and administers the programs and policies laid down by them

5)The duties carried out by the Secretariat are as varied as the problems deal with by the United Nations. These range from administering peace keeping operations to mediating international disputes, from surveying economic and social trends and problem stop preparing studies on human rights and sustainable development.