International Justice: Today’s Problems and Challenges

The current system of international justice is becoming a battlefield between the countries of the Western camp and the states of the multipolar world. More and more accusations are being made about violations of fundamental international obligations in the fight against terrorism, racial discrimination, and genocide. International judicial bodies, primarily the International Court of Justice, are being subjected to unprecedented pressure, including through mass ‘interventions’ (by third parties) that aim to support a particular party in a dispute. During the first stage of this process, the ‘prosecutors’ were mainly Western countries that initiated numerous proceedings against Russia, Syria, Iran, and other countries. However, Russia managed to successfully repel this attack: in early 2024, the International Court of Justice handed down several high-profile decisions that rejected almost all Western-backed Ukrainian accusations and completely denied Kyiv any compensation. On the contrary, Ukraine now finds itself in the position of the accused, as the Court will consider whether Kyiv committed genocide in the Donbass. The initiative in the International Court of Justice is gradually passing to the states of the Global South, while countries in the Western camp, namely Israel, Canada, and Germany, have found themselves ‘in the dock’. As this legal confrontation escalates, there are increasing risks of political pressure on international judges and arbitrators, greater efforts from discredited judicial bodies (the European Court of Human Rights and the International Criminal Court), as well as the creation of new quasi-judicial structures that are clearly under political control, but seek to administer justice. International criminal justice bodies, including the International Criminal Court, are increasingly being used to hunt down domestic and foreign political opponents. In addition to an obvious political bias, their activities show a clear disregard for generally recognized norms of international law, including the immunity of officials of a foreign state. Given the high-profile decisions of the International Court of Justice and the destructive activities of the International Criminal Court, how should the global community find a way to prevent a crisis in the international justice system and maintain the impartiality and arms’ length approach of international judicial and arbitration bodies, which were created to ensure the peaceful resolution of interstate disputes?