Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) - Extension of the time-limits for the filing of the Reply and the Rejoinder

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2019/17
26 April 2019
Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France) Extension of the time-limits for the filing of the Reply and the Rejoinder
THE HAGUE, 26 April 2019. By an Order dated 17 April 2019, the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, extended from 24 April 2019 to 8 May 2019 and from 24 July 2019 to 21 August 2019, respectively, the time-limits for the filing of the Reply of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea and the Rejoinder of the French Republic in the case concerning Immunities and Criminal Proceedings (Equatorial Guinea v. France).
In its Order, the President states that, by a letter dated 11 April 2019, the Agent of the Republic of Equatorial Guinea requested the Court to extend by two weeks the time-limits for the filing of the Reply and the Rejoinder, and indicated the reasons for that request.
It is further stated in the Order that, by a letter dated 12 April 2019, the Agent of the French Republic informed the Court that his Government had no objection to the extension of the time-limits requested by the Republic of Equatorial Guinea.
The subsequent procedure has been reserved for further decision.
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History of the proceedings
The history of the proceedings can be found in paragraphs 161-175 of the Court’s Annual Report for 2017-2018 and in press release No. 2019/6, both of which are available on the Court’s website.
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The full text of the Order is also available on the Court’s website.
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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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