Da relevância dos casos do desarmamento nuclear perante a Corte Internacional de Justiça

Abstract

This essay aims at determining whether the decisions on preliminary objections by the International Court of Justice on the cases Cessation of the Nuclear Arms Race and to Nuclear Disarmament offers other contributions beyond the question of the existence of a dispute. The general thesis sustained is that these contributions exist and they are at least three. Firstly, the fact that the Court has revisited and reaffirmed some basic principles regarding nuclear weapons. Secondly, it is argued that the judgment has equally served to give recognition to the nuclear cause of the Republic of Marshall Islands and to acknowledge “the suffering which its people endured”. Ultimately, some procedural questions shall be examined, particularly those not solved by the Court such as the issue of the Monetary Gold principle and the absence of practical consequences of the judgment. These questions remained open, though they were the object of analysis of some judges in their individual opinions. By elaborating on these three points, it will be concluded that the outcome of the judgments offers food for thought beyond the question of what is a dispute and contributes, in at least three different aspects, to the international legal debate.