9781422285473

In the 1980s, the International Court of Justice determined that the United States illegally invaded Nicaragua and ordered it to withdraw from the small Central American country (pictured here).

This problem is compounded when the offending country is a permanent member of the UN Security Council. The Security Council has five permanent members—China, France, Russia, the United Kingdom, and the United States—and each permanent member has the right to veto any proposal. This means that if the Security Council were to order one of the permanent members to carry out an ICJ decision, that nation could simply refuse and then veto any proposed sanctions. Such a situation happened in 1984,when the ICJ ordered the United States to withdraw from Nicaragua,in Central America,and to pay compensation for illegally invading the country. Although the United States eventually pulled out of Nicaragua, it refused to pay any money as compensation.The Security Council could not force the United States to follow the rulings of the ICJ, since the United States was a permanent member and had veto power.The United States claimed the ICJ had no jurisdiction over it and that it was not bound by the decision.

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Chapter One