Third-party intervention before the international court of justice: A tool for litigation in the public interest?

This chapter empirically maps and discusses the International Court of Justice (ICJ) practice concerning all forms of submitting relevant information to the court by a variety of state and non-state actors (NSAs) under its existing Statutes and Rules provisions, with a focus on contentious proceedings, notably when community interests are at stake. The empirical research was designed to assess all requests, applications and submissions presented to the ICJ and the notifications issued by the court to the relevant actors (accepted and declined), as well as other informal ways of submitting information to the Court. The chapter posits that states and NSAs may participate in and influence international dispute settlement in various capacities, both formally and informally, and while their formal role has yet to be more broadly explored, their informal participation in international disputes must also be taken into account.