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Actors Without A Role - An analysis of non-state actors role before the International Court of Justice

Williams, Freja LU (2025) LAGF03 20252
Department of Law
Faculty of Law
Abstract (Swedish)
Icke statliga aktörers (NSAs) roll inom internationell rätt har länge varit före-mål för debatt. I en tid då konflikter ökar, är NSAs fortsatta kamp för mänsk-liga rättigheter och global medvetenhet kring humanitära frågor högst relevant. Trots detta, utesluts NSAs från att föra talan i Internationella Domstolen (ICJ) och endast stater tillåts väcka talan. Följande uppsats undersöker hur ICJs statscentrerade struktur påverkar NSAs inflytande och roll i internationell rätt.
Uppsatsen använder en rättsdogmatisk metod för att klargöra principerna av internationell rätt med stöd av artikel 38 av ICJ stadgan som identifierar sed-vanerätt och traktat som primära rättskällor. Vidare, används tre rättsfall för att visa hur NSAs kan påverka fall... (More)
Icke statliga aktörers (NSAs) roll inom internationell rätt har länge varit före-mål för debatt. I en tid då konflikter ökar, är NSAs fortsatta kamp för mänsk-liga rättigheter och global medvetenhet kring humanitära frågor högst relevant. Trots detta, utesluts NSAs från att föra talan i Internationella Domstolen (ICJ) och endast stater tillåts väcka talan. Följande uppsats undersöker hur ICJs statscentrerade struktur påverkar NSAs inflytande och roll i internationell rätt.
Uppsatsen använder en rättsdogmatisk metod för att klargöra principerna av internationell rätt med stöd av artikel 38 av ICJ stadgan som identifierar sed-vanerätt och traktat som primära rättskällor. Vidare, används tre rättsfall för att visa hur NSAs kan påverka fall vid ICJ, samt hur faktauppdrag och civil medvetenhet kan påverka pågående diskussioner.
Artikel 34 av ICJ stadgan slår fast att stater är det enda subjektet inom folkrät-ten som åtnjuter full internationell rättskapacitet. Därav, utesluter ICJ stadgan alla andra subjekt från att föra talan i domstolen och förlitar sig på att stater väcker talan vid brott mot folkrätten. Det återspeglar sig även i obligationerna erga omnes och erga omnes partes. Men, i samband med globaliseringen och den förändrande karaktären av internationell rätt har NSAs påverkan på inter-nationell rätt ökat. Genom att påverka civilsamhället och samla dokumentation ifrån konflikter har deras möjlighet till politisk påtryckning på regeringar ökat. I rättsfallen Gambia mot Myanmar, Sydafrika mot Israel samt ICJ:s rådgi-vande yttrande gällande de Rättsliga Konsekvenserna av Israels Politik och Praxis i det Ockuperade Palestinska Territoriet, inklusive Östra Jerusalem, bistod NSA med dokumentation och skapade civil uppmärksamhet kring frå-gorna, vilket i sin tur ökade kravet på stater att agera.
Avslutningsvis sammanfattas denna uppsats i att NSAs kan påverka internat-ionell rätt trots begränsningarna i artikel 34 av ICJ stadgan. Trots att NSAs inte kan bli föremål för prövning framför domstolen, kan de bistå med hand-lingar och skapa uppmärksamhet kring brott mot internationell rätt. Däremot, ska det inte undgås att ansvaret åvilar ännu stater att väcka talan och risken att mänskliga rättigheter får vika för politiska intressen är ännu aktuell. (Less)
Abstract
Non-state actors (NSAs) role in international law has long been a subject for discussion. In a time where conflicts are growing, NSAs continued fight for human rights and global awareness of humanitarian issues has become more important. Despite their ongoing mission, NSAs are legally excluded from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where only states can bring cases for-ward. This thesis examines how the state-centric structure of the ICJ shapes NSAs influence and their role in international law.
This thesis uses a legal dogmatic method to clarify the principles of interna-tional law alongside article 38 of the ICJ statute, identifying international cus-tomary law and treaties as primary sources. Moreover, three cases are used to... (More)
Non-state actors (NSAs) role in international law has long been a subject for discussion. In a time where conflicts are growing, NSAs continued fight for human rights and global awareness of humanitarian issues has become more important. Despite their ongoing mission, NSAs are legally excluded from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where only states can bring cases for-ward. This thesis examines how the state-centric structure of the ICJ shapes NSAs influence and their role in international law.
This thesis uses a legal dogmatic method to clarify the principles of interna-tional law alongside article 38 of the ICJ statute, identifying international cus-tomary law and treaties as primary sources. Moreover, three cases are used to show how NSAs influence the ICJ proceedings, how fact-finding missions and civil mobilisation affect ongoing discussions.
Article 34 of the ICJ statute states that states are the only subjects in interna-tional law that enjoy full legal personality. Therefore, the ICJ effectively ex-cludes all other subjects from bringing cases before the court, relying upon states to initiate proceedings regarding breaches of international law. This is mirrored in obligations erga omnes and erga omnes partes. However, due to globalisation and the ever-changing nature of international law, NSAs role in global society has gown. By influencing civil society and carrying out fact-finding missions in conflicts, their ability to put political pressure on govern-ments has increased. In the cases Gambia v Myanmar, the Republic of South Africa v Israel and the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Palestine Opinion), NSAs provided doc-umentation and created further public awareness regarding the conflicts, in-creasing the pressure upon states to bring the cases forward.
In summary, this thesis concludes that despite the limitations of article 34 of the ICJ statute that NSAs can influence international law. Although NSAs cannot appear as subjects before the court, they may assist in providing doc-umentation and by raising public awareness regarding violations of interna-tional law. However, it should not be disregarded that the responsibility to initiate proceedings still falls upon states and the risk that human rights may be forced to give way to political interests remains. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Williams, Freja LU
supervisor
organization
course
LAGF03 20252
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
keywords
Public International Law, Non-state actors, International Court of Justice
language
English
id
9217602
date added to LUP
2026-02-09 15:53:57
date last changed
2026-02-09 15:53:57
@misc{9217602,
  abstract     = {{Non-state actors (NSAs) role in international law has long been a subject for discussion. In a time where conflicts are growing, NSAs continued fight for human rights and global awareness of humanitarian issues has become more important. Despite their ongoing mission, NSAs are legally excluded from the International Court of Justice (ICJ), where only states can bring cases for-ward. This thesis examines how the state-centric structure of the ICJ shapes NSAs influence and their role in international law. 
This thesis uses a legal dogmatic method to clarify the principles of interna-tional law alongside article 38 of the ICJ statute, identifying international cus-tomary law and treaties as primary sources. Moreover, three cases are used to show how NSAs influence the ICJ proceedings, how fact-finding missions and civil mobilisation affect ongoing discussions. 
Article 34 of the ICJ statute states that states are the only subjects in interna-tional law that enjoy full legal personality. Therefore, the ICJ effectively ex-cludes all other subjects from bringing cases before the court, relying upon states to initiate proceedings regarding breaches of international law. This is mirrored in obligations erga omnes and erga omnes partes. However, due to globalisation and the ever-changing nature of international law, NSAs role in global society has gown. By influencing civil society and carrying out fact-finding missions in conflicts, their ability to put political pressure on govern-ments has increased. In the cases Gambia v Myanmar, the Republic of South Africa v Israel and the ICJ Advisory Opinion on the Legal Consequences arising from the Policies and Practices of Israel in the Occupied Palestinian Territory, including East Jerusalem (Palestine Opinion), NSAs provided doc-umentation and created further public awareness regarding the conflicts, in-creasing the pressure upon states to bring the cases forward. 
In summary, this thesis concludes that despite the limitations of article 34 of the ICJ statute that NSAs can influence international law. Although NSAs cannot appear as subjects before the court, they may assist in providing doc-umentation and by raising public awareness regarding violations of interna-tional law. However, it should not be disregarded that the responsibility to initiate proceedings still falls upon states and the risk that human rights may be forced to give way to political interests remains.}},
  author       = {{Williams, Freja}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Actors Without A Role - An analysis of non-state actors role before the International Court of Justice}},
  year         = {{2025}},
}