Public hearings concerning whaling in the Antarctic

INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE

Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, Netherlands

Website: www.icj-cij.org Press Release Unofficial No. 2013/14 12 June 2013

Public hearings in the case concerning Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand intervening)

Public admission and media accreditation Live and on-demand webcasts THE HAGUE, 12 June 2013. As announced in Press Release 2013/7 issued on 11 April 2013, the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, will hold public hearings in the case concerning Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v.Japan: New Zealand intervening) from Wednesday 26 June to Tuesday 16 July 2013, at the Peace Palace in The Hague, the seat of the Court.

1. Access for members of the Diplomatic Corps Owing to the limited number of seats available in the Great Hall of Justice, members of the Diplomatic Corps wishing to attend the hearings are kindly asked to inform the Information Department before midnight on Sunday 23 June 2013, by e-mail to confirmation@icj-cij.org.

Diplomatic missions are kindly requested to limit their delegations to two persons.

Should members of the Diplomatic Corps decide at any point not to attend a hearing for which they have reserved a seat/s, they are kindly requested to inform the Information Department so that theirseat/s can be reallocated.

2. Access for media representatives Media representatives are subject to an online accreditation procedure, details of which can be found in the Media Advisory attached to this Press Release. The accreditation procedure will close at midnight on Sunday 23 June 2013.

3. Access for members of the public Owing to the very limited number of seats available in the Great Hall of Justice, priority access will be given to members of the delegations of States that are parties to the case, and members of the Diplomatic Corps.

A small number of seats will be allocated daily to members of the public on a first come first served basis. There will be no advance registration procedure, all previously sent requests to attend these hearings will be ignored.- 2 - 4.Live and on-demand webcasts We strongly advise members of the public to watch the hearings on the Court’s website, where they will be broadcast live and in full (www.icj-cij.org, under the heading “Multimedia”), or on the online television channel “UN Web TV (http://webtv.un.org/)”.

The hearings will subsequently also be available as a recorded webcast (VOD) on the United Nations Web TV website (http://webtv.un.org/meetings-events/).

5. Schedule for and information on the hearings The schedule for the hearings is available on the Calendar on the Court’s website (www.icj-cij.org). Verbatim records of the hearings will be published daily on the Court’s website (with translations to follow as soon as practicable thereafter). On the final day of the hearings, a Press Release will be issued presenting the submissions of the Parties (the Court’s press releases do not constitute official documents).

6. History of the proceedings The history of the proceedings can be found in Press Release No. 2013/7 of 11 April 2013, which is available on the Court’s website.

_________ The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York. The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States (its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned); and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.

Independent of the United Nations Secretariat, it is assisted by a Registry, its own international secretariat, whose activities are both judicial and diplomatic, as well as administrative. The official languages of the Court are French and English. Also known as the “World Court”, it is the only court of a universal character with general jurisdiction.

The International Court of Justice (ICJ) is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

It was established by the United Nations Charter in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946. The seat of the Court is at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands). Of the six principal organs of the United Nations, it is the only one not located in New York. The Court has a twofold role: first, to settle, in accordance with international law, legal disputes submitted to it by States (its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned); and, second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized United Nations organs and agencies of the system. The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations.

Independent of the United Nations Secretariat, it is assisted by a Registry, its own international secretariat, whose activities are both judicial and diplomatic, as well as administrative. The official languages of the Court are French and English. Also known as the “World Court”, it is the only court of a universal character with general jurisdiction.- 3 - The ICJ, a court open only to States for contentious proceedings, and to certain organs and institutions of the United Nations system for advisory proceedings, should not be confused with the other mostly criminal judicial institutions based in The Hague and adjacent areas, such as the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia (ICTY, an ad hoc court created by the Security Council), the International Criminal Court (ICC, the first permanent international criminal court, established by treaty, which does not belong to the United Nations system), the Special Tribunal for Lebanon (STL, an independent judicial body composed of Lebanese and international judges, which is not a United Nations tribunal and does not form part of the Lebanese judicial system), or the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA, an independent institution which assists in the establishment of arbitral tribunals and facilitates their work, in accordance with the Hague Convention of 1899).

ENDS

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