In November 2023 the United Nations (UN) General Assembly and Security Council elected (in one case, re-elected) five judges to the International Court of Justice. The electoral system is considered to be overly politicized and to pay lip service to the requirements that judges must be elected on the basis of their qualifications, regardless of their nationality, and that in the body as a whole, the representation of the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world should be assured. Several amendments to the system of nominations and elections have been proposed that would require a reform of the Court's Statute. This article proposes four measures that could be adopted without amending the Statute or encroaching on the prerogatives of national groups, UN organs or Member States: (1) ensure the representation of the principal legal systems, in part by promoting regional diversity on the bench; (2) remove the use of nationality as a factor in casual elections; (3) establish a vetting process and public hearings; and (4) promote a single vote for Security Council members. It argues that the measures proposed would lead to a change in the present culture of nominations and elections towards one that favours the qualification of the judges over political considerations.

On 19 February 2013, a Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA)-administered Court of Arbitration issued a Partial Award on the dispute between Pakistan and India regarding the use of the waters of the Kishenganga/Neelum, a tributary of the Indus system of rivers. This article examines the tribunal's decision, which was mainly limited to interpreting the 1960 Indus Water Treaty (IWT), and its contribution to international environmental law and the law of non-navigational uses of international watercourses. After briefly discussing the dispute's factual context and procedural history, the article critiques the tribunal's methodology, which was based on an inconsistent application of the principles of treaty interpretation. The Award's contribution is therefore mixed: despite its almost complete disregard for the principle of ‘equality of right’, it has contributed to clarifying the criteria for determining ‘existing uses’ of a watercourse and reaffirmed both the substantive obligation to refrain from causing transboundary harm and the procedural duty to carry out an Environmental Impact Assessment under international environmental law.

With a looming referendum on the secession of South Sudan, the drafters of the Abyei Arbitration Agreement were faced with a complex intra-state dispute and a limited time to resolve it. The parties to the dispute agreed on a procedural regime to govern the arbitration, combining both traditional and innovative provisions on procedural rules, the constitution of the tribunal, the schedule of pleadings, transparency, financing of the proceeding, and the role of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. This article examines the key provisions of the Abyei Arbitration Agreement and their implementation during the course of the arbitration, and evaluates the case's significance as procedural precedent for future intra- or inter-state arbitration. The article does not provide an analysis of the substantive findings of the tribunal.

The Permanent Court of Arbitration adopted Optional Rules for Arbitration of Disputes Relating to Natural Resources and/or the Environment on 19 June 2001. These Rules seek to address fundamental lacunae as identified by a panel of environmental law experts and the member states of the Permanent Court of Arbitration. This article discusses some innovative provisions of the Environmental Rules and concludes that arbitration under the Environmental Rules could have some advantages over adjudication, and that the Environmental Rules can increase access to justice functioning as a tool for interpretation of existing agreements; possibly mending some of the fragmentation of international (environmental) law. The article also offers an examination of present systems and scenarios for how the Environmental Rules may lead to direct environmental improvement.

On 9 October 1998, an Arbitral Tribunal handed down its Award regarding the first stage of an arbitration between Eritrea and Yemen. The Award determined, firstly, the scope of the dispute between the parties and, secondly, the sovereignty of small islands, islets, rocks and low-tide elevations sprinkling in the Red Sea between the respective coast lines of the two states. Whilst closely examining concepts raised by the parties such as historic title, the Tribunal was ultimately swayed by factors of geographical appurtenance, recent demonstrations of governmental authority and functions of state, and, to a lesser extent, the area's legal history. The Award contributes to the body of law on territorial sovereignty and to an understanding of the role of arbitration in the peaceful resolution of disputes.

In August 1993, this Journal devoted an entire special issue to the future of international arbitration in general, andthe Permanent Court of Arbitration in particular. Its editors viewed this special issue inter alia as a contribution to the UN Decade of International Law. It is not entirely coincidental that 1999, the final year of the Decade, will also mark the centennial of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA). This commemorative link is expressly acknowledged in the UN Resolution initiating the Decade.