The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN), established as an institution to settle legal disputes between states and provide advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorized UN organs. It was established in June 1945 by the Charter of the United Nations and began work in April 1946, with its seat at the Peace Palace in The Hague, Netherlands. The ICJ was created to solve the problem of interstate conflict by providing a permanent forum for the peaceful settlement of disputes, succeeding the Permanent Court of International Justice (PCIJ). The PCIJ, which was established by the League of Nations, held its inaugural sitting in 1922 and was dissolved in 1946.
The ICJ functions under its own Statute, which is an integral part of the UN Charter and is largely similar to that of its predecessor. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the Security Council, with no two judges being nationals of the same state (Article 3). Its jurisdiction covers two main areas: contentious cases between states and advisory opinions on legal questions. In contentious cases, the Court's jurisdiction is founded upon the consent of the states involved, which can be given through special agreements or declarations accepting compulsory jurisdiction (Article 36). All UN member states are automatically parties to the ICJ Statute (Article 92 of the UN Charter). The ICJ connects directly to the United Nations as one of its six principal organs. There have been no recent amendments to the ICJ Statute, as amendments require a two-thirds majority vote in the General Assembly and ratification by two-thirds of the states (Article 69). However, the Court's work continues to evolve, with recent cases addressing issues like the Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (e.g., The Gambia v. Myanmar).