The ICJ and “progressive causes”

This chapter considers the International Court of Justice’s record when approaching ‘progressive causes’. It investigates how the Court has responded when faced with contentious and advisory proceedings involving divisive issues of international concern and assesses how its handling of proceedings involving such causes has evolved over time. It addresses three questions: (i) how we ought to understand ‘progress’ and ‘progressiveness’ in the context of international adjudication; (ii) how international courts and tribunals can be said to contribute to the pursuit of progress; and (iii) the extent to which the Court can be considered an ‘agent’ of progress. In addressing this latter question, the chapter considers the Court’s practice on four topics of global concern: discrimination; self-determination and decolonisation; nuclear disarmament; and environmental protection. It concludes that the Court ought to be understood as a cautiously (and often reluctantly) progressive institution.