Basic Facts about the United Nations
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international treaties and conventions in force, international custom, the general principles of law and, as subsidiary means, judicial decisions and the teachings of the most highly qualified international law experts.
Judges The Court is composed of 15 judges elected for a nine-year term by the General Assembly and the Security Council, voting independently. Five posts are renewed every three years and judges can be re-elected for further terms of nine years. The members of the Court must each be from a different country. They do not represent their countries: they are independent magistrates. The composition of the Court has also to reflect the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world. For a number of years, the composition of the Court has maintained the following geographical balance, corresponding to the current membership of the Security Council: five seats on the bench are occupied by judges from Western Europe and other western countries; three judges are from Africa; three are from Asia; two are from Eastern Europe and two are from Latin America. Although no country is entitled to a seat, there has always been one judge from each of the five permanent members of the Security Council. If, in a particular case, the Court does not have a judge of the nationality of each of the states parties to the case, those States can each appoint what is called an ad hoc judge. Such judges have the same rights and duties as elected judges.
Budget The annual budget of the ICJ is adopted by the General Assembly. For the biennium 2012–2013, it amounted to some $23.9 million annually. President: Judge Peter Tomka (Slovakia) Registrar: Philippe Couvreur (Belgium) Headquarters: Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ The Hague, The Netherlands Tel.: (31) 70 302 23 23; Fax: (31) 70 364 99 28
Trusteeship Council The Trusteeship Council (www.un.org/en/mainbodies/trusteeship) was originally established by the Charter to provide international supervision for 11 Trust Territories placed under the administration of seven member states, and to ensure that adequate steps were taken to prepare the Territories for self-government or independence. It carried out this work for forty-nine years. By a 1994 resolution, the Council amended its rules of procedure to drop the obligation to meet annually and agreed to meet as occasion required—by its decision or the decision of its President, or at the request of a majority of its members or the General Assembly or the Security Council. Subsequently, on 1 November 1994, the Trusteeship Council suspended operation following the independence of Palau, the last remaining UN Trust Territory, on 1 October of that year.
Secretariat The UN Secretariat (www.un.org/en/mainbodies/secretariat)—consisting of staff representing all nationalities working in duty stations around the world—carries out the diverse day-to-day work of the Organization. Calling upon some 42,900