YUGOSLAVIA INSTITUTES PROCEEDINGS AT ICJ AGAINST 10 STATES FOR VIOLATION OF OBLIGATION NOT TO USE FORCE AGAINST ANOTHER STATE
Press Release
ICJ/569
YUGOSLAVIA INSTITUTES PROCEEDINGS AT ICJ AGAINST 10 STATES FOR VIOLATION OF OBLIGATION NOT TO USE FORCE AGAINST ANOTHER STATE
19990429 Requests Court to Order That Use of Force Cease Immediately Hearings on Provisional Measures to Open Monday, 10 MayTHE HAGUE, 29 April (ICJ) -- The Federal Republic of Yugoslavia today instituted proceedings before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) against (separately and in the following order) the United States, United Kingdom, France, Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Belgium, Canada, Portugal and Spain, accusing these States of bombing Yugoslav territory in violation of their obligation not to use force against another State.
In its Applications, Yugoslavia maintains that the above-mentioned States have committed "acts by which [they] have violated [their] international obligation[s] not to use force against another State, not to intervene in [that State's] internal affairs" and "not to violate [its] sovereignty"; "the obligation to protect the civilian population and civilian objects in wartime, [and] to protect the environment; the obligation relating to free navigation on international rivers"; the obligation "regarding the fundamental rights and freedoms; and the obligation[s] not to use prohibited weapons [and] not to deliberately inflict conditions of life calculated to cause the physical destruction of a national group".
Yugoslavia has requested the Court to adjudge and declare, among other things, that the 10 States against which it has instituted proceedings are "responsible for the violation of the above[-mentioned] international obligations", that they are "obliged to stop immediately" that violation and that they are "obliged to provide compensation for the damage done".
According to Yugoslavia, the above-mentioned States, "together with the Governments of other member States of NATO, took part in the acts of use of force against the FRY". Yugoslavia asserts that both military and civilian targets have come under attack during the bombings, causing many casualties ("about 1,000 civilians, including 19 children, were killed and more than 4,500 sustained serious injuries"), enormous damage to schools, hospitals, radio and television stations, cultural monuments and places of worship, the destruction of a large number of bridges, roads and railway lines, as well as oil refineries and chemical plants, resulting in serious health and environmental damage.
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As the legal basis for its claims, Yugoslavia cites the obligations not to use force against another State and not to intervene in its internal affairs, the provisions of the Geneva Convention of 1949 and of the Additional Protocol No. 1 of 1977 on the Protection of Civilians and Civilian Objects in Time of War, the 1948 Convention on Free Navigation on the Danube, the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights, the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights, and the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Yugoslavia further points out that the activities of the States involved are "contrary to Article 53, paragraph 1, of the Charter of the United Nations".
Yugoslavia also filed today, in each of the cases, a request for interim measures of protection (provisional measures), asking the Court to order the States involved to "cease immediately [their] acts of use of force" and to "refrain from any act of threat or use of force against the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia".
It maintains that if the proposed measures are not adopted, there will be "new losses of human life, further physical and mental harm inflicted on the population of the FRY, further destruction of civilian targets, heavy environmental pollution and further physical destruction of the people of Yugoslavia".
At a meeting held today, the Court decided that hearings on provisional measures would open on Monday, 10 May, at 10 a.m. They are expected to last two days.
Vice-President Weeramantry will exercise the functions of the presidency in all 10 cases, President Schwebel being a national of one of the Parties.
The full texts of Yugoslavia's Applications and requests for the indication of provisional measures will be available shortly on the Court's web site (http://www.icj-cij.org).
For further information contact Arthur Witteveen, Secretary of the Court (tel: 31-70-302 2336), or Laurence Blairon, Information Officer (tel: 31-70-302 2337).
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