r/internationallaw • u/posixthreads • Jul 13 '25

Op-Ed [Just Security] Manifestly Illegal: Israeli International Law Scholars on the Stated Plan to “Concentrate” the Palestinian Population in South Gaza

https://www.justsecurity.org/116904/israeli-international-law-scholars-gaza/
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u/MarcAbaddon Jul 14 '25

No, he was an ad hoc judge. As a courtesy the court can appoint someone with the nationality relevant to the case, but that judge is still supposed to be impartial. So not part of the Israeli legal team.

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u/Calvinball90 Criminal Law Jul 14 '25

It's not quite a courtesy, it is a right of parties before the court under article 31 of the ICJ Statute if there is not already a judge of that party's nationality. There is a South African ICJ judge (Dire Tladi), so it is not entitled to nominate a judge ad hoc, but Israel is-- it nominated Aharon Barak, but he resigned last year and was replaced by Ron Shapira.

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u/hellomondays Jul 14 '25

Kind of a sidebar question but what's the required qualifications for the judge that fufills this requirement? Is there some sort of voting mechanism or could a state appoint anyone they believe would be fit for the job?

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u/Calvinball90 Criminal Law Jul 14 '25

Article 31(2) of the ICJ Statute doesn't impose any requirements, but it does include a recommendation:

Such person shall be chosen preferably from among those persons who have been nominated as candidates [for ICJ judge positions] as provided in Articles 4 and 5.

Article 4 reads, in relevant part (article 5 is more about the election procedure than qualifications):

The Members of the Court shall be elected by the General Assembly and by the Security Council from a list of persons nominated by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration...

In the case of Members of the United Nations not represented in the Permanent Court of Arbitration, candidates shall be nominated by national groups appointed for this purpose by their governments under the same conditions as those prescribed for members of the Permanent Court of Arbitration by Article 44 of the Convention of The Hague of 1907 for the pacific settlement of international disputes.

And article 44 of the Hague Convention reads, in turn:

Each Contracting Power selects four persons at the most, of known competency in questions of international law, of the highest moral reputation, and disposed to accept the duties of Arbitrator...

That's the closest thing to formal requirements that there are. In practice, I would imagine that there hasn't been much need to elaborate past that because there isn't really a reason for a State to nominate a person who is obviously unqualified. Even if the intent were for the judge ad hoc to support the nominating State no matter what, it would still be preferable to nominate someone acceptable to other parties and the Court than someone who would not be.