On May 5, 2025, International Court of Justice (ICJ, also referred to as the Court) delivered its order on the request for the indication of provisional measures submitted by Sudan in the case concerning application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide (Genocide Convention) in Sudan (Sudan v. United Arab Emirates (UAE)).
In its order released on May 5, 2025, the ICJ rejected the case. When announcing the order, the Court explained it may indicate provisional measures only if the provisions relied on appear, prima facie, to afford a basis on which its jurisdiction could be founded.
The Court noted that the UAE, when acceding to the Genocide Convention, formulated a reservation to Article IX, seeking to exclude the jurisdiction of the Court. Having regard to the UAE’s reservation to Article IX of the Genocide Convention, the Court observed that Article IX of that Convention cannot constitute, prima facie, a basis for the jurisdiction of the Court in the present case. As such, the Court could not indicate the provisional measures requested.
Can someone explain with less legalese? In my reading, the court decided that it did not have the jurisdiction over it because... UAE decided that it didn't want the court to have jurisdiction over it? That shit would be funny if it wasn't so sad.
It's funny/sad. When UAE signed the Geneva convention their terms were we promise not to commit genocide as long as you promise you don't have jurisdiction to prosecute us through the ICJ.
That's my reading as well. I have no idea what is actually in Article IX but it sounds like UAE snuck in "except us" when it came to defining the ICJ's jurisdiction. It's giving SovCit vibes, only instead of a sovereign citizen unbeholden to their government and declaring their house a nation state, it's a country unbeholden to the world and declaring themselves outside of its purview. And the ICJ is just shrugging their shoulders saying the same thing.
Imagine someone shooting up heroin while driving, getting pulled over on a highway on-ramp, then telling the cop who is looking at the needle in their arm that technically this is a highway, so highway patrol are the only ones who could pull them over. In what world does the cop shrug and say "Aw shucks, you're right" before getting back in their squad car and driving off? Because it seems like the international equivalent of that just happened but with genocide instead of addiction.
I guess a better analogy would be a guy with his beaten and bloody wife who is pleading for help from the officer, who just shrugs and says "Sorry, ma'am" before leaving. But the general idea remains the same.