The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It is composed of 15 judges who are elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council. The judges must be of high moral character and have qualifications for the highest judicial offices in their countries or be recognized experts in international law.
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They are not representatives of their governments, but independent magistrates who exercise their functions impartially and conscientiously. The current members of the ICJ are:
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- Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia)
- Xue Hanqin (China)
- Joan E. Donoghue (United States)
- Antônio Augusto Cançado Trindade (Brazil)
- Giorgio Gaja (Italy)
- Kirill Gevorgian (Russia)
- Nawaf Salam (Lebanon)
- Peter Tomka (Slovakia)
- Julia Sebutinde (Uganda)
- Ronny Abraham (France)
- Mohamed Bennouna (Morocco)
- James Richard Crawford (Australia)
- Dalveer Bhandari (India)
- Patrick Lipton Robinson (Jamaica)
- Iwasawa Yuji (Japan)
The ICJ settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs and specialized agencies. The ICJ is based in The Hague, Netherlands, and its official languages are English and French.
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