International Court of Human Rights. The International Court of Justice. International Arbitration Court

Several centuries ago, the main ways to resolve international conflicts or other issues were diplomacy and war. Moreover, the second method was used much more often than the first, due to the fact that it could be used to achieve great results in case of victory. But as society evolved, its legal culture evolved. It became clear that the war harmed both the defeated and the victors. Thus, the society began to look for more comfortable ways of solving international legal disputes. A great impetus to such reflections was the emergence of a specific legal branch that regulated relations between subjects that had the status of states.

International law in many ways helped to develop a way of dialogue between countries, with the help of which it would be possible to solve almost any problems. In order to achieve the implementation of international legal norms, special bodies have been set up that have received the status of courts. To date, a large number of subjects of both public and private law appeal to such courts. In the article we will characterize and reveal the main aspects of international courts of different directions.

The concept of international courts

For any ordinary citizen, the question of what an international court is almost always remains a mystery. Regardless of the status and orientation of the international court, there is a uniform legal regulation of the activities of such bodies. It is interesting that any international court is a consequence of a definite treaty concluded between states. Given this fact and other features, we can single out a single concept. Thus, the international court of law is a body that is created solely on the basis of a definite international treaty with a view to resolving and considering disputes of a different nature between states and in some cases by private persons. Today, there are a lot of different courts in the world, each of which is responsible for this or that sector of international law. The most famous of them will be presented in the article.

The legal status of decisions of international courts

There are many questions about how the law of international courts is being implemented. The problem is that there is no single mechanism by which the decisions of the instances presented in the article were used at the national level in individual countries. In the theory of international law, a concept was developed that states that the decision of an international court is realized within the framework of the treaty, as a result of which it was created. Given the specifics of such organizations, the presented concept is quite justified. Thus, the status of an international court of any orientation is regulated by a specific international treaty between certain states.

International Court of Justice

One of the most famous and truly important bodies in the sphere of regulation of international disputes is the UN court. This instance was established in accordance with the Charter of the United Nations in 1945. The Authority is one of the six main departments of the Organization. According to the Charter, he regulates international legal disputes in accordance with the principles of justice and conflict resolution by peaceful means. The International Court of Justice was largely based on the Second World War, when people understood the horror of such conflicts. Its activities are regulated by a separate regulatory document of the organization. To date, this is the statute of the UN international court.

The status of the UN court and the sources of law that it applies

The legal status of the court is completely dependent on the normative documents of the United Nations. As a rule, its members are concurrently members of an international court. Established this body on the basis of the status of the Organization. In its activities, the UN court enjoys a significant number of sources of international law. According to Article 38 of its Statute, the following legal sources are used to resolve certain legal disputes:

• Conventions, treaties of an international legal nature;
• International legal practices ;
• General principles of law that exist in all legal systems;
• Decisions of individual specialists, as well as the most well - known international legal doctrines.

In some cases, the court can justify its decisions by the principles of justice, without limiting itself to formalized international legal norms.

Jurisdiction

The International Court of Justice extends its jurisdiction only to those entities that gave direct consent to the case in this instance. As a rule, UN member states have several basic ways by which they can express their desire to participate in a trial under the leadership of an international court. Such methods include the following:

1. Agreements of a special nature (parties to the dispute agree among themselves on its transfer to an international court).
2. In some treaties, there are articles that initially oblige the party to resolve all disputes that arise with another state in the UN international court.
3. Sometimes a participating country recognizes the court's jurisdiction for itself by means of a unilateral statement.

On the basis of the presented conditions, the international court of the United Nations carries out its activities in the process of resolving disputes between states.

International Court of Human Rights

In many civilized states of modernity, the main value is, first of all, a person. Therefore, his rights and freedoms are protected by many legislative acts of both national and international legal system.

But even taking into account the development of the legal culture of the world's population, human rights are often violated. With this negative factor trying to fight, but in some cases have to go to court. The main body in this area is the International Court of Human Rights. This name is not entirely correct, because the body has a slightly different name, namely the European Court of Human Rights, founded in 1953. The implementation of the norms of the court is carried out exclusively with respect to the countries parties to the convention for the protection of human rights and fundamental freedoms.

Jurisdiction of the European Court of Human Rights

The European Court of Human Rights is not a higher authority body than the entire judicial system of a state. Nevertheless, if we take for example the Russian Federation, which is a member of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, the decisions of the international court are part of the system of national law as an obligatory element. At the same time, the legal force of decisions is greater than the normative acts of the bodies of national legislation of the Russian Federation.

As for the implementation of the decisions of the international court for human rights, there have never been cases in the history of the existence of this body of non-enforcement of its acts. In its decisions, the court is entitled to fairly satisfy the claims of the parties, as well as to compensate for harm, moral damage and legal costs.

Conditions for filing complaints with the International Court of Human Rights

In order for a court to accept a complaint for review, it must meet two basic conditions, namely:

1. It is possible to complain about violations of only those human rights and freedoms that are expressly provided for in the convention. Exclusive rights, registered only in the constitutions of individual states, are not taken into account. It is interesting that some of the freedoms listed in the convention are novel for many participating states, but this fact does not exclude the responsibility for their violation.
2. In accordance with Article 34 of the European Convention for the Protection of Human Rights and Fundamental Freedoms, individuals, groups of individuals and non-commercial organizations can be sued in court, which, in their opinion, are victims of direct violation of their rights.

The court has the status of an international organization, so a person who is not a citizen of a member state of the Council of Europe can apply to it . Another important condition for filing a complaint before a human rights court is the fact that a person must expend all means of protecting his rights at the national level and only then apply to international authorities.

International Commercial Arbitration

Today, much attention is paid to international trade, because the world market evolves almost every second. As in all other spheres of human activity, in this there are also disputes that need to be addressed in some way. For this, there is an international commercial arbitration court. This body is specifically designed to address and resolve disputes arising directly between participants in international commercial transactions. In this case, individuals or parties to disputes may be organizations of completely different affiliation with state structures. The International Commercial Court must be distinguished from other instances that resolve disputes directly between states.

Features of international arbitration

Along with the state judicial bodies, the international commercial arbitration court is a rather popular way of settling disputes between the parties to a contract, a transaction, etc. This allows us to highlight the most striking features of the represented body, namely:

1. Execution of decisions of international arbitration is a rather time consuming and controversial issue. To date, there is no single mechanism for the enforcement of judicial decisions of an international body, which would be implemented absolutely in all states. This negative factor in some situations allows the parties to abuse their rights contrary to a judicial decision.
2. The International Arbitration Court uses the principle of confidentiality, which allows the parties to leave their dispute in secret.
3. Given the fact that arbitration proceedings may well drag on for years, this particular type of protection of their rights is expensive, primarily for legal costs and other necessary expenses (hiring consultants, lawyers, etc.).
4. The International Arbitration Court is a neutral body that will not give personal preference to any of the parties to the dispute.

The Criminal International Court

An important breakthrough in the field of international justice was the establishment of an international criminal court. According to the Rome Statute (the founding document of the body), the international criminal court is an instance of a criminal justice of a worldwide nature. Its direct competence includes the prosecution of persons who committed the following types of offenses: war crimes, genocide, crimes against humanity.

Court Status

The International Criminal Court is a permanent body, as opposed to point tribunals that deal with individual crimes. In addition, the ICC is a separate court located in The Hague. It is not part of the UN structure, although in certain cases it can initiate proceedings on the basis of the representation of this body. Consideration of cases is made upon ratification of the Rome Statute, the norms of which currently operate in the territory of 123 states. There are countries that are not included in the number of participants in the statute, but actively assist in the implementation of the activities of the international criminal court and its structural bodies. Among such states is the Russian Federation.

Conclusion

In conclusion, it should be noted that international justice is not only an important branch of world law in general, but also a great step towards the development of dialogue between states. Let's hope that soon all important issues between the countries will be considered in international bodies.