Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. R

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2019/23
7 June 2019
Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) Conclusion of the public hearings on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation The Court to begin its deliberation
THE HAGUE, 7 June 2019. The public hearings on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation in the case concerning Application of the International Convention for the Suppression of the Financing of Terrorism and of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Ukraine v. Russian Federation) were concluded today. The Court will now begin its deliberation.
During the hearings, which opened on Monday 3 June 2019 at the Peace Palace, the seat of the Court, the delegation of the Russian Federation was led by two of its Agents: H.E. Mr. Dmitry Lobach, Ambassador-at-large, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation, and Mr. Grigory Lukiyantsev, Special Representative of the Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation for Human Rights, Democracy and the Rule of Law, Deputy Director, Department for Humanitarian Co-operation and Human Rights, Ministry of Foreign Affairs of the Russian Federation; and the delegation of Ukraine was led by H.E. Ms Olena Zerkal, Deputy Minister for Foreign Affairs of Ukraine, as Agent.
The Court’s decision on the preliminary objections will be delivered at public sitting, the date of which will be announced in due course.
Requests of the Parties
At the end of the hearings, the Agents of the Parties presented the following requests to the Court:
For the Russian Federation:
“Having regard to the arguments set out in the Preliminary Objections of the Russian Federation and during the oral proceedings, the Russian Federation requests
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the Court to adjudge and declare that it lacks jurisdiction over the claims brought against the Russian Federation by Ukraine by its Application of 16 January 2017 and/or that Ukraine’s claims are inadmissible.”
For Ukraine:
“Ukraine respectfully requests that the Court:
a. Dismiss the Preliminary Objections submitted by the Russian Federation in its submission dated 12 September 2018;
b. Adjudge and declare that it has jurisdiction to hear the claims in the Application submitted by Ukraine, dated 16 January 2017 and that such claims are admissible, and proceed to hear those claims on the merits; or
c. In the alternative, to adjudge and declare, in accordance with the provisions of Article 79, paragraph 9, of the Rules of Court that the objections submitted by the Russian Federation do not have an exclusively preliminary character.”
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History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings can be found in paragraphs 192-199 of the Court’s Annual Rapport for 2017-2018, and in Press Releases Nos. 2018/48 of 1 October 2018 and 2019/18 of 1 May 2019, available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org) under the heading “Press Room”/“Press Releases”.
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Note: The Court’s press releases are prepared by its Registry for information purposes only and do not constitute official documents. The complete verbatim records of the hearings held from 3 to 7 June 2019 are published on the website of the Court (www.icj-cij.org).
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The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York. The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States (its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned); and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations. Independent of the United Nations Secretariat, it is assisted by a Registry, its own international secretariat, whose activities are both judicial and diplomatic, as well as administrative. The official languages of the Court are French and English. Also known as the “World Court”, it is the only court of a universal character with general jurisdiction.
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The ICJ, a court open only to States for contentious proceedings, and to certain organs and institutions of the United Nations system for advisory proceedings, should not be confused with the other  mostly criminal  judicial institutions based in The Hague and adjacent areas, such as the International Criminal Court (ICC, the only permanent international criminal court, which was established by treaty and does not belong to the United Nations system), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL, an international judicial body with an independent legal personality, established by the United Nations Security Council upon the request of the Lebanese Government and composed of Lebanese and international judges), the International Residual Mechanism for Criminal Tribunals (IRMCT, mandated to take over residual functions from the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia and from the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda), the Kosovo Specialist Chambers and Specialist Prosecutor’s Office (an ad hoc judicial institution which has its seat in The Hague), or the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA, an independent institution which assists in the establishment of arbitral tribunals and facilitates their work, in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1899).
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Information Department:
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