International Court of Justice (ICJ)

also known as the World Court; primary judicial organ of the UN; est. 26 June 1945 with the signing of the UN Charter (inaugural sitting of the Court was on 18 April 1946); superseded Permanent Court of International Justice (attached to the League of Nations) to settle disputes submitted by member states and to provide advice to UN organs and other international agencies

members - (15 judges) elected by the UN General Assembly and Security Council to represent all principal legal systems; judges elected to nine-year terms (eligible for two additional terms); elections held every three years for one-third of the judges

jurisdiction - based on the principle of consent in contentious issues; consent to compulsory jurisdiction is outlined in Statute 36 of the ICJ; states provide declarations of consent to compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ either with or without reservations (date in parens after each state is when the declaration was deposited with the UN Secretary-General); Haiti, Luxembourg, Nicaragua, and Uruguay deposited declarations with the Permanent Court of International Justice prior to 1945 and these were later transferred to the ICJ)

states accepting compulsory jurisdiction with reservations - (61) Australia (22 March 2002), Barbados (1 August 1980), Belgium (17 June 1958), Botswana (16 March 1970), Bulgaria (21 June 1992), Cambodia (19 September 1957), Canada (10 May 1994), Democratic Republic of the Congo (8 February 1989), Cote d'Ivoire ( 29 September 2001), Cyprus (3 September 2002), Denmark (10 December 1956), Djibouti (2 September 2005), Egypt (22 July 1957), Estonia (31 October 1991), Eswatini (26 May 1969), Finland (25 June 1958), The Gambia (22 June 1966), Germany (30 April 2008), Greece (10 January 1994), Guinea (4 December 1998), Honduras (6 June 1986), Hungary (22 October 1992), India (18 September 1974), Ireland (15 December 2011), Japan (9 July 2007), Italy (25 November 2014), Kenya (19 April 1965), Lesotho (6 September 2000), Liberia (20 March 1952), Liechtenstein (29 March 1950), Lithuania (26 September 2012), Madagascar (2 July 1992), Malawi (12 December 1966), Malta (2 September 1983), Marshall Islands (23 April 2013), Mauritius (23 September 1968), Mexico (28 October 1947), Netherlands (1 August 1956), New Zealand (23 September 1977), Nicaragua (24 September 1929), Nigeria (30 April 1998), Norway (25 June 1996), Pakistan (13 September 1960), Panama (25 October 1921), Peru (7 July 2003), Philippines (18 January 1972), Poland (25 March 1996), Portugal (25 February 2005), Romania (23 June 2015), Senegal (2 December 1985), Slovakia (28 May 2004), Somalia (11 April 1963), Spain (20 October 1990), Sudan (2 January 1958), Suriname (31 August 1987), Sweden (6 April 1957), Switzerland (28 July 1948), Timor-Leste (21 September 2012), Togo (25 October 1979), Uganda (3 October 1963), United Kingdom (5 July 2004)

states accepting compulsory jurisdiction without reservations - (12) Austria (19 May 1971), Cameroon (3 March 1994), Costa Rica (20 February 1973), Dominica (31 March 2006), Dominican Republic (30 September 1924), Equatorial Guinea (11 August 2017), Georgia (20 June 1995), Guinea-Bissau (7 August 1989), Haiti (4 October 1921), Luxembourg (15 September 1930), Paraguay (25 September 1996), Uruguay (28 January 1921)