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On Thursday, Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu hosted a high-level round table dedicated to promoting the jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), held in virtual format.
In his address, the Romanian Minister said that the initiative to organize this event was outlined in the discussions held in The Hague with the then President of the International Court of Justice, Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, and the ICJ Registrar, Philippe Gautier, in the context of the official visit he carried out in the Netherlands on November 9, 2020, shows a press release issued by the Ministry of Foreign Affairs sent to AGERPRES.
The head of the Romanian diplomacy specified that this approach is in line with our country's constant position to support the valorization of legal instruments in support of international peace and to recognize the role of the Court as promoter and guarantor of the rule of law in international relations and of consolidation of the rule of law at international level.
During the meeting, the Romanian Minister stressed that the event hosted by the Romanian MAE aims to create the necessary framework for launching a global campaign to encourage states to accept and resort to the jurisdiction of the ICJ. To this end, Minister Bogdan Aurescu pointed out that, in the next period, Romania intends to initiate, within a representative group of supporting states, discussions on a joint statement encouraging the use of ICJ jurisdiction to resolve disputes between states, which will be opened, subsequently, for endorsement, to all interested states.
"Respect for international law is at the heart of Romania's foreign policy demarches, along with the promotion of the rule of law at the international level. This principle should be an integral part of the foreign policy of every state in the world, and a concrete way to achieve this is the strengthening of the ICJ," Aurescu stated in his address.
He said that "the Court's influence in international relations is increasingly felt, while its judgments are perceived as impartial, fully constructed under international law and contributing to its development."
Aurescu underlined that Romania's appreciation for the professionalism and impartiality of the Court has been strengthened in the context of a long experience of relations with the ICJ, the most eloquent example being the settlement by the Court, by the decision pronounced on February 3, 2009, of the delimitation of Romania's and Ukraine's maritime spaces in the Black Sea, in the process in which he had the role of Agent of Romania at the ICJ.
The participants in the meeting welcomed the initiative of the Romanian Minister of Foreign Affairs Bogdan Aurescu of launching the campaign promoting the acceptance by more and more states of the ICJ jurisdiction, the initiative being already supported by Japan, Switzerland, Holland, Liechtenstein, Norway, Spain, New Zealand, Mexico, as states that have already joined the initiative group, while other states such as Poland, Costa Rica and Botswana have expressed support for the project.
The opening ceremony was attended by the Minister of Foreign Affairs of the Kingdom of Norway, Ine Marie Eriksen Soreide, and the UN Under-Secretary-General for Legal Affairs, Miguel de Serpa Soares.
The event was also attended by the Registrar of the International Court of Justice, Philippe Gautier, prestigious experts in the field of international law, including Sir Michael Wood, member of the International Law Commission (ILC), and Alain Pellet, professor of international law at Paris Quest Nanterre La Defense University and former member and chairperson of the International Law Commission, ambassadors and members of the diplomatic community in The Hague and New York, in virtual format.
