The Compliance With And Enforcement Of The Judgments Of The International Court Of Justice

As an important platform for the peaceful settlement of international disputes,the International Court of Justice(ICJ)plays an important role in maintaining international legal order,manifesting international legal authority and promoting the development of international rule of law.As one of the aspects of the implementation of international law,the compliance with and enforcement of the judgments of the ICJ is not only related to the authority and effectiveness of the ICJ,but also an important indicator reflecting the effectiveness of international law.With the increase of the number and complexity of cases accepted by the ICJ,the compliance with and enforcement of the judgments of the ICJ is more complicated and unpredictable.However,compared with the wide academic attention to the jurisdiction and judicial procedures of the ICJ,the legal and practical issues in the stage of the post-adjudicative phase of the ICJ are largely ignored.Theoretically,the issue of compliance with the judgment of the ICJ is a specific aspect of the implementation of international law,which is helpful to deepen the understanding of the internal attributes of international law and to recognize the judicial functions and limitations of the ICJ.Practically,the legal guarantee mechanism of the judgments of the ICJ is not only the concern of the parties,but also the way to pursue the justice of international law.Therefore,it is of theoretical and practical significance to study the mechanism,dilemma and amelioration of the ICJ.Since the establishment of the ICJ,it is not uncommon for the judgments of the ICJ not to be complied with or not to be fully complied with,which exists in both large and small countries,developed countries and developing countries,and covers several major continents in the world.With the increase of the number and complexity of cases accepted by the ICJ,the compliance of judgments by the court is more complicated and unpredictable.Throughout the history of the judicial practice of the ICJ,political game,interest calculation,organizational mechanism,international environment and domestic policies play a key role in promoting or hindering the motivation of the parties to comply with the judgments.Therefore,despite the obligation of the parties to comply with the judgments of the ICJ,various considerations and practical constraintsoften block the effective implementation ofunfavorable judgments for various reasons.This not only leads to tensions between the parties,but also causes great damage to the peaceful settlement of international disputes and the authority of the ICJas well as the international legal order.One of the preconditions for the systematic study of the compliance with and enforcement of the judgments of the ICJ is: why should the judgment of the ICJ be complied with and enforced? This is not only related to the interpretation,application and implementation of legal rules and legal mechanisms under the normative system of international law,but also related to the basic topics of international legal philosophy,such as the source of the binding force,the basis of validity and nature of coercion of international law.Therefore,it is necessary to understand this from both the perspective of compliance theory and the enforcement mechanism.In terms of the normative basis of compliance,normative legal analysis is a very functional tool for the clarification,interpretation and definition of the subject,object,connotation and exception of the legal obligation of complying with the ICJ judgments.In terms of legal philosophy,the natural law school,the empirical law school and the normative law school's different approaches and classical analysis provide enlightening explanations on the source of the binding force of international law,which together provide the legal support for the bindingness and enforceability of the ICJ judgments.After the establishment of the normative and legal basis for the compliance with ICJ judgments,it is necessary to systematically sort out the legal guarantee mechanism under the existing international law system.Under the legal framework of the United Nations,the Security Council,the General Assembly and the ICJ play specific roles and important functions in the implementation of judgments.At the level of regional international organizations,the European Union,the Organization of American States,the Organization of African Unity,the League of Arab States and the Islamic Conference play their respective roles in urging,encouraging and supervising the compliance with the judgment of the ICJ.In addition,the functions of international specialized agencies with special relations with the United Nations should not be underestimated,such as the International Labour Organization,the International Civil Aviation Organization,the International Monetary Fund,the World Bank and the International Atomic Energy Agency.They should also promote the implementation of the judgment of the ICJ within certain conditions and scope.Although the influence of international organizations is great,it does not change the status of States as the most important and fundamental subject of international law.Therefore,the legal and practical issues in the implementation of ICJ judgments at the national level deserves attention.As the final means of judgment enforcement,the States' independent self-help is still the supplementary remedial method to ensure the rights and interests of infringed States.In order to better evaluate the effect of implementation of judgments and its corresponding enforcement mechanism,this paper investigates the relevant cases which encountered obstacles in the post-adjudicative phase,and finds that the difficulties in practice are mainly reflected in three aspects: the probability of the influencing factors of the judgment compliance,the fuzziness of the measurement standard of the judgment compliance and the incompleteness of the guarantee mechanism of the judgment compliance.As for the causes of the above difficulties,on the one hand,it can be attributed to many defects in the enforcement mechanism of ICJ judgments at all levels,on the other hand,it can trace the theoretical roots from the compliance theory of international relations and international law.It can be found that the defects at the international mechanism mainly include the voting procedure of the Security Council in the enforcement of judgments,the structural disputes between the internal organs of the United Nations,the insufficient power of the ICJ in the enforcement of judgments,and the internal functional limitations of international organizations in the enforcement of judgments.The obstacles at the domestic level are mainly the conflicts between international law and domestic law.From the theoretical root,the theories of realism based on power gap,liberalism based on benefit calculation,new institutionalism based on cooperation mechanism,new realism based on power structure,constructivism based on concept identification,policy orientation school based on norm internalization,management process theory based on management mode,are all enlightening to explain the motivation of the States' compliance with the ICJ judgments.On the basis of the evaluations of the defects of the existing enforcement mechanisms of the ICJ judgments,this paper provides strategies and suggestions for the amelioration of the enforcement mechanisms of the ICJ judgments.In the aspect of enhancing the awareness and ability of states to comply with the judgments,in order to prevent or reduce the risk of non-compliance,measures can be taken through bilateral or multilateral treaties to improve the domestic conversion mechanism of ICJ judgments.From the perspective of strengthening the role of international organizations in the enforcement of ICJ judgments,we can focus on strengthening the functions of monitoring,reporting,investigations and disputes settlement of international organizations.In terms of how to regulate the power and procedures of the Security Council in the enforcement of the ICJ judgments,considerations can be taken to regulate the voting procedures through legislation or interpretation of treaties,improve the cooperation procedures between the Security Council and the ICJ,as well as enrich the direct and indirect measures for the enforcement of the ICJ judgments.In order to improve the effectiveness of the judicial power of the ICJ,it would be beneficial to exercise the flexible interpretation power of the ICJ,improve the authority and conviction of the judgments,exert the mediation power of the ICJ,and strengthen the supervision function of the ICJ.Finally,although the judicial system of the ICJ may be improved with the process of the international rule of law,we should recognize the limitations of the judicial function of the ICJ and the irreplaceable role of traditional diplomatic and political means in international relations.Therefore,the functional complementarity and interaction between international judicial and diplomatic means deserve further study and attention.How to change the weak law status of international law,strengthen the implementation mechanism of international law,and enhance the operability and enforceability of international law in the practice of international relations is of great significance for building a more just,efficient and prestigious international legal system,ensuring the realization of rights and obligations of international law,and promoting the healthy development of international legal order.