Daily Times

The International Court of Justice’s set of measures on Palestine’s case represents a significant contribution towards the resolution of the conflict, a top Pakistani diplomat told the UN General Assembly, emphasizing that those steps must also be applied to the situation in Indian occupied Kashmir.

“The role of the ICJ has become even more indispensable today,” Ambassador Munir Akram said in his remarks in a debate on the work of the World Court, while highlighting the threats to global peace and security and violations of the UN Charter and its principles – especially that the use of unilateral force – have multiplied.

“Many peoples, particularly the people of Palestine and occupied Jammu and Kashmir, continue to be subjected to foreign and colonial occupation and denied their right to self-determination,” the Pakistani envoy said, noting that genocide, war crimes and crimes against humanity are being committed, with impunity, by some rogue States.

While the Security Council is virtually paralyzed by the frequent use of veto power by some of the Security Council permanent members, he said, the ICJ has played a prominent role in upholding the principles of the UN Charter and international law.

“The Court’s Advisory Opinions and its provisional measures represent a significant contribution to unravelling the issues involved in the case of Palestine and in setting out the basis for the resolution of the conflict,” Ambassador Akram said, pointing out that ICJ’s findings have established four core principles:

The obligation of Israel to allow the exercise of the Palestinian people’s right to self-determination, both within or outside territory, that land cannot be acquired by the use of force and military occupation; Israel must be held accountable and pay for the damage resulting from its illegal occupation of Palestinian territory; and the obligation of all other States, and the UN, to support the exercise of self-determination by the Palestinian people and execute the findings of the Court.

“These and other conclusions flowing from the ICJ’s findings have legal precedent and have assumed the force of international law and norms, with universal application. Indeed, these are principles and norms which must be applied to all similar situations of foreign military occupation and denial of the right to self-determination, especially the situation in occupied Jammu and Kashmir,” the Pakistani envoy added.

Given ICJ’s proven capacity to play a meaningful role in the defence of international law and justice, Ambassador Akram called for strengthening its role in the preservation of world order, proposing the consideration of the following measures by the General Assembly and the Security Council:

— Broadening the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ through the removal of reservations by member states and a binding decision by the Security Council to provide such mandatory jurisdiction to the court for all the items on the Security Council’s agenda or at least those where the Charter’s principles and Council resolutions are being violated;

— The UN organs should have greater and more frequent recourse to the ICJ’s Advisory Opinions on specific disputes and on fulfillment of the legal obligations of member states and international organizations;

— Ensuring the accountability of member states for the violations of international law and determining the damage and compensation due to aggrieved parties; and

— The ICJ’s bench should be enlarged to enable it to cope with the larger case-load and adequate budgetary resources made available to the Court.

“Justice is a critical component for the preservation of world order,’ the Pakistani envoy added.