Are There Political Influences on the Judges at the I.C.J.?

Carlos Bernal

An issue in the minds of many is whether there could be any geopolitical influence on the judges sitting at the International Court of Justice? Bernal says decisions are about international law.

Carlos Bernal, Professor of International Law, Mexican Autonomous University

“Politics is politics. I am sure all the judges read the papers every day and they know about the news and what you reported and they know the international relations between the litigants. But the judgment is based on one thing – international law – no political considerations. Now they are all human beings, right? And inevitably like internal judges sometimes they have tendencies; some are more conservative, some are more liberal, some have this and that, but they are all judges and the only thing they can apply is international law.”

On Tuesday, we’ll tell you about how the I.C.J. recently ruled on a territorial dispute between two Latin American countries.