The International Court of Justice and the Individual

This chapter studies the relationship between the ICJ and ‘the individual’, including human beings as well as private companies. It argues that there is a gap between, on one hand, the most famous dicta by the World Court about the concept of international legal personality and, on the other hand, its interpretation and application of treaty provisions that govern individuals directly. Indeed, the Court seems to have consistently invoked a more progressive view of the international legal personality of non-State entities than it is given - and has taken - credit for. Nonetheless, the Court’s favourable approach to ‘individual rights’ under international law has not prompted it to be particularly accommodating towards ‘human rights’. Above all, the ICJ’s case law involving human rights issues indicates that it does not strive to be a human rights court, but emphatically a court of international law.