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

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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2018/48
1 October 2018
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) Fixing of time-limit for the filing by Ukraine of a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation
THE HAGUE, 1 October 2017. By an Order dated 17 September 2018, the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, has fixed the time-limit within which Ukraine may present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation in the case concerning the 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).
In his Order, the President recalls that, on 12 May 2017, the Court had fixed 12 June 2018 and 12 July 2019 as the respective time-limits for the filing of a Memorial by Ukraine and a Counter-Memorial by the Russian Federation and that the Memorial of Ukraine was filed within the time-limit thus fixed.
He also recalls that, on 12 September 2018, the Russian Federation raised certain preliminary objections to the jurisdiction of the Court and the admissibility of the Application and that, in accordance with Article 79, paragraph 5, of the Rules of Court, the proceedings on the merits have therefore been suspended.
Pursuant to that same provision, the President, by the said Order, has fixed 14 January 2019 as the time-limit within which Ukraine may present a written statement of its observations and submissions on the preliminary objections raised by the Russian Federation.
It is further explained in the Order that that date has been fixed taking account in particular of Practice Direction V, according to which the time-limit for the presentation of such a written statement shall generally not exceed four months from the date of the filing of preliminary objections.
The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision.
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History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings may be found in the Annual Report of the Court for 2016-2017 (paras. 246-257), available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org) under “The Court/Annual Reports”.
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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.
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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.
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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