INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands
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Press Release
Unofficial
No. 2019/37
11 September 2019
Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya) The Court to hold public hearings from Monday 4 to Friday 8 November 2019
THE HAGUE, 11 September 2019. The International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the case concerning Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya), from Monday 4 to Friday 8 November 2019 at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.
The hearings in this case have been rescheduled further to the request made by the Republic of Kenya on 3 September 2019 and taking into account the views expressed by the Federal Republic of Somalia on that request (see Press Release No. 2019/36).
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Please note that accreditation requests received for the September hearings will be disregarded and journalists will need to reapply. Members of the diplomatic corps wishing to attend the rescheduled hearings will also need to reconfirm. More information on the admission and accreditation procedures can be found below.
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New schedule for the hearings
First round of oral argument
Monday 4 November 2019
10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3 p.m.-4.30 p.m.: Somalia
Wednesday 6 November 2019
10 a.m.-1 p.m. and 3 p.m.-4.30 p.m.: Kenya
Second round of oral argument
Thursday 7 November 2019
Friday 8 November 2019
3 p.m.-6 p.m.: Somalia
3 p.m.-6 p.m.: Kenya
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History of the proceedings
For a complete history of the proceedings, see paragraphs 142-153 of the Annual Report of the Court for 2017-2018 and Press Releases Nos. 2018/12, 2019/29 and 2019/36, available on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org).
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Multimedia
The hearings will be streamed live and on demand (VOD) in English and French on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org/en/multimedia-index), as well as on UN Web TV, the United Nations online television channel. Still photographs of the hearings will be posted on the ICJ website and the Court’s Twitter feed (@CIJ_ICJ) along with selected high-resolution video footage (b-roll).
All ICJ photographs and videos are available free of charge, for non-commercial editorial use.
For information regarding the accreditation/admission procedures for the hearings, as well as the video streaming options (low and high resolution) and practical information for the media, please see below.
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A. Admission procedures
Owing to the limited number of seats available in the Great Hall of Justice, priority access will be given to representatives of the States Parties to the case, and to members of the diplomatic corps.
1. Members of the diplomatic corps
The Information Department requests members of the diplomatic corps who plan to attend the hearings to notify it accordingly before midnight on Thursday 24 October 2019 (The Hague time), by e-mail to [email protected].
2. Members of the public
A number of seats will be allocated to members of the public on a first-come, first-served basis. There will be no advance registration procedure, and admission requests submitted beforehand will not be considered.
3. Media representatives
Media representatives are subject to a compulsory online accreditation procedure, which will close at midnight on Thursday 24 October 2019 (The Hague time). Requests submitted after this deadline will not be considered. The Information Department reserves the right to close the procedure ahead of schedule if the number of accredited media representatives reaches the maximum capacity of the Press Room before that time.
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B. Further practical information for the media
1. Entry to the Peace Palace
The Press Room will be open one and a half hours prior to the start of hearings and will close one hour after they conclude. Accredited media representatives must bring with them their personal ID and press card. They are asked to arrive at the Peace Palace gates one hour before the start of each hearing, at the latest. Only duly accredited individuals with valid identification will be permitted to enter the Peace Palace grounds.
2. Parking at the Peace Palace, satellite vehicles
No parking is allowed on the Peace Palace grounds apart from satellite vehicles. Media wishing to park satellite vehicles are requested to fill in the appropriate fields in the online accreditation form. Televised media wishing to broadcast the hearings live should contact the Information Department as soon as possible to make the necessary arrangements. Satellite vehicle technicians/drivers will be informed in due course of the access times for the Peace Palace grounds.
3. Access to the courtroom
Photographers and camera crews will only be permitted to enter the courtroom a few minutes before the opening of the first round of oral argument of each Party. They will be accompanied by a member of the Information Department.
4. Press Room
The hearings will be transmitted live on a large screen, in English and French, in a press room equipped with a shared Internet access (Wi-Fi, Ethernet). TV crews can connect to the Court’s PAL (HD and SD) and NTSC (SD) audiovisual system and radio reporters to the audio system.
5. Videos, still photographs
Video files (SD/MPEG2 and HD/MPEG4) and still photos produced by the Registry during the hearings will be available free of charge, for non-commercial use, at the close of the hearings (to download, click on www.icj-cij.org/en/multimedia-index).
6. Other media services
For further practical information (on requests for interviews, TV stand-up positions, audio and video outputs available, etc.), please visit the Court’s website. Click on “Press Room”, and then on “Media Services”.
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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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Information Department:
Mr. Andrey Poskakukhin, First Secretary of the Court, Head of Department (+31 (0)70 302 2336)
Ms Joanne Moore, Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2337)
Mr. Avo Sevag Garabet, Associate Information Officer (+31 (0)70 302 2394)
Ms Genoveva Madurga, Administrative Assistant (+31 (0)70 302 2396)
Maritime Delimitation in the Indian Ocean (Somalia v. Kenya) - The Court to hold public hearings from Monday 4 to Friday 8 November 2019