Judicial relief in war times? Ukraine vs. Russia (2022) before the International Court of Justice

Abstract

The armed conflict that began in 2022 between Russia and Ukraine provides a good case-study on how International Courts may be called to rule on wars. Shortly after the first large-scale attacks, Ukraine seized both the International Court of Justice and the European Court of Human Rights, asking for the enactment of judicial provisional measures aimed at suspending the Russian offensives. In this Article, the UN Court’s order is studied in detail, as it may represent a landmark decision on the matter, due to its findings both on jurisdiction and on the merits, due to the number of intervenient States and also due to the complex questions that it deals with. The European Court of Human Rights also enacted a decisive measure in this regard. However, there is the risk that both decisions remain mainly symbolic, as their enforcement remains a mirage one year after the beginning of the war.