By Dr Bertrand Ramcharan
Former UN High Commissioner for Human Rights;
Seventh Chancellor of the University of Guyana
Preventive and protective measures have a long history in English and Commonwealth law. In 1925, English legislation gave the Supreme Court of Judicature specific authority to “grant a mandamus or an injunction or appoint a receiver, by an interlocutory order in all cases in which it appears to the court to be just and convenient so to do.”
Even before this specific English legislation, in 1919, the Statute of the Permanent Court of International Justice, the predecessor to today’s World Court, gave it authority to issue interim measures of protection and it did so in a number of cases. A similar authority to issue interim measures of protection was given in 1945 to today’s World Court, and it also has ordered interim measures in several cases.
Specifically on the crime of genocide, the ICJ, in a case brought by Bosnia against Serbia, found Serbia responsible for failing to prevent Genocide by Serb forces in Bosnia, and specifically in Srebrenica. The Bosnia-Serbia case is the only one so far decided at the final stage. The ICJ has ordered interim measures of protection in a genocide case brought by Ukraine against Russia and in another case brought by the Gambia against Myanmar for persecution of the Rohingyas.
