UNITED NATIONS, United States: Ignored by Russia and Israel, the International Court of Justice is hamstrung by a dysfunctional global system that sees countries comply with its rulings — or not — based on their own double standards, experts say.
In 2022, the UN’s highest court ordered Russia to halt its invasion of Ukraine, still underway two years later.
In May, it ordered Israel to immediately halt its military offensive in the southern Gaza city of Rafah, which is ongoing.
Do these refusals to comply with legally binding decisions testify to a lack of credibility and legitimacy on the part of the ICJ? Not really, according to analysts interviewed by AFP, who point instead to the responsibilities of nations within the global system.
Without an international police or armed force, the ICJ “depends on the will and cooperation of states to implement its decisions,” says Raphaelle Nollez-Goldbach, a researcher at France’s National Center for Scientific Research.
“Obviously, this has certain limits,” she continues.
The court says “almost all” of its decisions “are complied with by states, but the few instances of non-compliance — which remain the exception — weigh heavily in international relations,” according to a statement from its press office to AFP.
This is not the court’s fault, the experts insist.
“The credibility problem is with those governments that basically have double standards,” Louis Charbonneau of Human Rights Watch told AFP.
Some Western countries “cheered” the decision on Ukraine, but are “seriously concerned” when it comes to Israel, he explained.
Conversely, countries such as South Africa — which instigated the proceedings against Israel over accusations of “genocide” — “have not been terribly outspoken when it comes to Russian atrocities in Ukraine,” he said.
“To have credibility, they need to enforce (standards) across the board ... for their friends and allies, as well as their rivals and countries they’re competing with. Otherwise, they’re giving other governments arguments and opportunities to do the same,” Charbonneau says.
The ICJ’s primary role is to mediate disputes between states, with the majority of its rulings on mundane issues such as border delineations or treaty interpretation.
It is important to distinguish between those and the few flashpoint cases focusing on “core international crimes,” says Gissou Nia of the Atlantic Council think tank.
She points in particular to proceedings brought by third parties — such as South Africa against Israel over its war with Hamas, or Gambia, which accuses Myanmar of “genocide” against the Muslim Rohingya minority.
An increase in such disputes “could make states want to abandon existing treaties” which give such countries the power to wade into disputes in which they are not directly involved.
Moreover, a number of states — including the United States, Russia, China and Israel — are not party to the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, the other court at The Hague, which prosecutes individual people for committing crimes.
The arrest warrant issued against Russia’s President Vladimir Putin, and the ICC prosecutor’s request for arrest warrants against Israel’s Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and leaders of the Palestinian militant group Hamas, have provoked an outcry from those concerned.
At times, that has been accompanied by pressure and threats of reprisals.
“That’s a reflection of how serious they’re taking” the court, even those who reject its rulings, says Nia.
For Romuald Sciora, a researcher at the French Institute of International and Strategic Relations, it’s not just the ICC and the ICJ where the question of credibility is at stake.
“All the institutions of today’s multilateral system have lost credibility exponentially in recent years,” he says, citing in particular the deeply divided Security Council at the United Nations.
That in turn affects the ICJ’s credibility — according to the UN Charter, if one party does not comply with an ICJ ruling, the other may try to seek recourse with the Security Council.
As the Israeli offensive on Rafah continues, South Africa this week called on the Council to enforce the ICJ order.
“In practice, however, the Security Council’s paralysis is preventing it from enforcing its own resolutions, let alone the ICJ’s judgments,” notes Said Benarbia of the International Commission of Jurists.
ICJ is collateral damage in dysfunctional global system: experts
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ICJ is collateral damage in dysfunctional global system: experts
- The ICJ’s primary role is to mediate disputes between states, with the majority of its rulings on mundane issues such as border delineations or treaty interpretation
A woman is arrested in vandalism at museum officials’ homes during pro-Palestinian protests
Pelton was arraigned Wednesday night and released with court supervision, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said
NEW YORK: A woman who police say helped vandalize the homes of the Brooklyn Museum’s leaders with red paint during a wave of pro-Palestinian protests has been arrested on hate crimes charges.
Taylor Pelton, 28, was arrested Wednesday on charges of criminal mischief and criminal mischief as a hate crime, police said.
Police say Pelton was one of six people seen on surveillance video vandalizing the homes of Brooklyn Museum Director Anne Pasternak and museum President and Chief Operating Officer Kimberly Trueblood on June 12.
Pelton was arraigned Wednesday night and released with court supervision, a spokesperson for the Brooklyn district attorney’s office said.
In an email, Pelton’s attorney, Moira Meltzer-Cohen, criticized “the increasing trend of characterizing Palestine solidarity actions as hate crimes.”
According to court papers, Pelton was part of a group of people seen on surveillance video spray-painting red paint the homes of Pasternak and Trueblood and hanging banners that with slogans like “BLOOD ON YOUR HANDS” AND “WHITE SUPREMACIST, FUNDS GENOCIDE.”
An inverted red triangle that authorities say is a symbol used by Hamas to identify Israeli military targets was sprayed onto Pasternak’s door, according to court papers.
The other people seen in the videos are still being sought, the district attorney said.
The vandalism targeting Pasternak, who is Jewish, was denounced by Mayor Eric Adams and other officials.
“This is not peaceful protest or free speech,” Adams said on X. “This is a crime, and it’s overt, unacceptable antisemitism.”
The vandalism happened days after hundreds of pro-Palestinians protesters marched to the museum and occupied the lobby.
Meltzer-Cohen said in her email that the willingness of prosecutors “to endorse the rhetorical collapse of Zionist ideology and protected religious identity, in order to criminalize criticism of Israel, signals a troubling departure from the principles on which our legal and political systems rest.”
Museum officials said in a statement that “it is crucial to distinguish between peaceful protest and criminal acts.”
The officials said the museum’s vision “remains rooted in the belief that art fosters dialogue and mutual understanding among people with diverse experiences and perspectives.”
Rector removed from 2 positions at Scottish university St Andrews over email accusing Israel of genocide in Gaza
- Email said country was practicing ‘apartheid, siege, illegal occupation, collective punishment’ against Palestinians
LONDON: A rector at the University of St Andrews in Scotland has criticized a decision to remove her from two roles at the institution over an email she sent in which she accused Israel of genocide.
Stella Maris was removed from the university’s governing body and as a trustee following the email, which was sent to all students in November and called for an immediate ceasefire in Gaza.
In the email she also accused Israel of practicing “apartheid, siege, illegal occupation and collective punishment” against Palestinians.
She also acknowledged and denounced Hamas’ “war crimes,” which she said included “the taking of hostages and deliberately targeting civilians.”
The university, in a statement issued on Thursday, said: “The Court of the University of St Andrews has informed the university rector Ms Stella Maris that she is to be discharged from the role of president of court and as a charity trustee.
“The court’s determination was made after the rector repeatedly declined to accept the conclusion of an independent investigation which found that she had made some St Andrews students ‘fear for their safety,’ and by her actions and activities breached her responsibilities and legal obligations as a court member and charity trustee.”
It added that it had “no choice but to discharge” Maris from the positions, but that she would retain her post as rector until her term finished in October 2026.
The statement also said: “(The) court wishes to stress that this decision has no bearing on Ms Maris’ freedom of speech, to which she is entitled and for which, like everyone else, she is personally accountable. We recognize that parts of the rector’s statement were an important source of comfort to students affected by the conflict in Gaza.”
Maris said she was disappointed by the decision, which she claimed showed a “lack of respect” for the rector’s role in speaking up for students and set a “dangerous precedent for freedom of speech” in British higher education, The Guardian newspaper reported.
“It is clear that I have been removed from university court because I called for an end to Israel’s war crimes against Palestinians, and I will not apologize for doing so,” Maris said.
“As a young, neurodiverse Black woman with limited financial resources, I have faced the full force of the university, including a KC investigation, all because I made a statement supported by the overwhelming majority of students, calling for an end to a genocide.”
Ex-Russian lawmaker says he was hurt in Russian drone attack outside Kyiv
- Ilya Ponomaryov later wrote on Facebook that a drone exploded outside his front door, inflicting shrapnel wounds and causing a fire
- He published a photograph of himself looking into a camera, his face and upper chest spattered with blood
KYIV: Ukraine said on Thursday it had repelled a Russian drone attack on the region outside Kyiv overnight, but that debris injured two people, one of whom was identified by media reports as a onetime Russian lawmaker turned Kremlin critic.
Ilya Ponomaryov, who has lived in Ukraine for years and has Ukrainian citizenship, later wrote on Facebook that a drone exploded outside his front door, inflicting shrapnel wounds and causing a fire.
He published a photograph of himself looking into a camera, his face and upper chest spattered with blood.
Kyiv’s regional authorities said the drone strike was the second on the area in as many nights. Two privately-held residential buildings were damaged, but there were no direct hits to residential or critical infrastructure, it said.
The air force said it had shot down all seven Shahed-type drones used for the attack. Ponomaryov portrayed the attack as a deliberate Russian attack on him, an interpretation that clashed with the air force’s account that the drones were shot down.
On Wednesday, Ukraine said Russia used 87 drones in one of its largest such attacks since the beginning of the full-scale invasion in February 2022.
The governor of the central-eastern Dnipropetrovsk region said the air force had also shot down one drone there and no casualties were reported.
Russia also launched Iskander-M ballistic missiles at the battered northeastern region of Kharkiv overnight, injuring one more person, its governor said.
Ukraine’s national railways Ukrzaliznytsia said the Russian missile attack on the region damaged its tracks and power supply facilities, in addition to two locomotives, freight and passenger cars.
Americans Gershkovich and Whelan included in big east-west prisoner swap, Turkiye says
- 10 prisoners, including two minors, had been moved to Russia, 13 to Germany and three to the United States
- “Our organization has undertaken a major mediation role in this exchange operation, which is the most comprehensive of the recent period,” the National Intelligence Agency said
MOSCOW/ANKARA: Jailed US Wall Street Journal reporter Evan Gershkovich and ex-US Marine Paul Whelan were among 26 prisoners from the United States, Russia, Germany, Poland, Slovenia, Norway and Belarus being freed in a major east-west exchange on Thursday, Turkiye’s presidency said.
It said 10 prisoners, including two minors, had been moved to Russia, 13 to Germany and three to the United States.
Turkish intelligence had announced that it was coordinating an extensive prisoner exchange, amid signs of a major swap between Russia and Belarus on one side and Western countries including the United States and Germany on the other.
“Our organization has undertaken a major mediation role in this exchange operation, which is the most comprehensive of the recent period,” the National Intelligence Agency (MIT) said in a statement.
Both the Kremlin and the White House declined to comment when asked about a possible exchange.
Flight tracking site Flightradar24 showed that a special Russian government plane used for a previous prisoner swap involving the United States and Russia had flown from Moscow to the Russian exclave of Kaliningrad, which borders Poland and Lithuania, before heading back to the Russian capital.
Reuters footage showed a Russian government plane on the ground in the Turkish capital Ankara.
Whelan and Vladimir Kara-Murza, a Russian-British dissident, both jailed in Russia, had suddenly disappeared from view in recent days, according to their lawyers. At least seven Russian dissidents had been unexpectedly moved from their prisons.
A lawyer for Alexander Vinnik, a Russian held in the United States, declined on Wednesday to confirm the whereabouts of his client to the state RIA news agency “until the exchange takes place.”
RIA had also reported that four Russians jailed in the United States had disappeared from a database of prisoners operated by the US Federal Bureau of Prisons. It named them as Vinnik, Maxim Marchenko, Vadim Konoshchenok and Vladislav Klyushin.
Dissidents inside Russia whose supporters say they have been told that they have been suddenly moved in recent days include opposition politician Ilya Yashin, human rights activist Oleg Orlov and Daniil Krinari, convicted of secretly cooperating with foreign governments.
In the West, the dissidents are seen by governments and activists as wrongfully detained political prisoners. All have, for different reasons, been designated by Moscow as dangerous extremists.
Among those Moscow has signalled it wants is Vadim Krasikov, a Russian serving life in Germany for murdering an exiled Chechen-Georgian dissident in a Berlin park.
A Slovenian court on Wednesday sentenced two Russians to time served for espionage and using fake identities, and said they would be deported, the state news agency STA reported, a move a Slovenian TV channel said was part of the wider exchange.
Reuters could not independently confirm that.
Thousands of Afghans brought to UK in secret operation
- Move to resettle 5,000 people who worked for British forces implemented in October
- Scale of Operation Lazurite kept secret by previous govt over immigration concerns
LONDON: The UK has secretly brought more than 5,000 Afghans to Britain since last October, The Times reported.
Dubbed Operation Lazurite, the mission involved moving former military personnel, intelligence assets and their families out of Afghanistan and offering them accommodation at military sites across the UK. Those evacuated include 150 Afghans who worked directly for the intelligence services.
A Whitehall source told The Times that the number of those resettled had been hushed up by the previous Conservative government as it wished to appear strong on lowering immigration figures.
Around 4,000 of those moved to the UK were stuck in hotels in Pakistan paid for by London, with another 1,000 having to travel to Pakistan on passports issued by the Taliban shortly after the operation began.
Many of those who reached the UK left their homeland because of Taliban threats against them.
They joined the roughly 27,000 Afghans who had already been brought to the UK after the Taliban takeover in August 2021 following the withdrawal of US-led coalition troops earlier that year.
The Whitehall source said security checks are being conducted quickly before accommodation is offered to evacuees, with 700 homes having been allocated so far.
