Analysis of Roles of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Ensuring Global Peace and Security

Abstract

Discussions relating to global peace and security are of abiding interest to humanity. The reason is that world leaders do not want to experience another world war after the first and the second world wars. Prior to the First World War, there was no international organization saddled with the responsibility to maintain international peace and security. However, after the First World War the League of Nations was formed. Unfortunately, the league failed to prevent the occurrence of the Second World War. Monumental killings and wanton destruction of properties witnessed during the Second World War led to the formation of the United Nations Organization (UNO) in 1945. The UNO has six principal organs that work together to achieve the lofty dreams of the organization. One of the principal organs of UNO is the International Court of Justice (ICJ). Through this organ-ICJ global Peace and Security has been maintained by dispensing cases and giving landmark judgments. The crux of this work is to analyze the roles of the ICJ in ensuring global peace and security. In so doing, this paper adopted doctrinal research design, with reliance placed on primary materials like: relevant statutes, conventions and legal instruments. Secondary materials such as: textbooks, journal articles, print and electronic media were also used. The primary task of this paper is to determine whether the ICJ has played certain roles in maintaining global peace and security. Aside from that, the challenges of ICJ was analyzed while recommendations were made to strengthen the ICJ by ensuring compliance to its judgements. The paper analyses the functions of the ICJ, focusing on various judgments of ICJ which is critical to global Peace and Security. The analysis ultimately leads to and justifies the claim that ICJ has played positive roles in ensuring global Peace and Security.