Peace in the International Court of Justice Jurisprudence

Abstract

The main purpose that led to the creation of the United Nations was peace. The Charter of the United Nations stipulates in its preamble and in Articles 1 and 2 thereof a set of objectives and principles that serve as guidelines for action of the United Nations and of its members. Peace is presented as the structuring and unifying goal of all others. The peace proclaimed in the Charter is thus a broad concept that is not limited to the mere absence of war. Rather, it is a multidimensional concept encompassing various elements of action necessary for the maintenance of its intrinsic condition, such as peaceful coexistence, peaceful settlement of disputes, self-determination, development, promotion and respect for human rights, collective action or respect for sovereignty.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, thus pertaining to the structure of the organization. Therefore, the Court's work is also devoted to the pursuit of the general objectives of the United Nations, including first and foremost peace as enshrined in the Charter.
The present study analyzes the contribution of the activity of the International Court of Justice to peace. Firstly, it will be discussed the role of the Court contextualizing it in the discourse of peace through law. Then it will proceed by reviewing some decisions of the Court seeking to identify outstanding jurisprudential developments concerning peace.
From that analysis it is possible to conclude that such developments are mainly inscribed in the liberal-idealist tradition of peace, despite some of them being still laden with outcrops of realism. A symptom of the dynamics that inform the United Nations.