Unlike UN treaty-bodies and regional human rights tribunals, the manner in which States may bring a case before the International Court of Justice (ICJ) is determined by the manner in which they have expressed their consent to be bound by the Court’s decisions.[1] Thus, the ICJ may decide over a dispute only if the States concerned have recognized its jurisdiction through unilateral declarations (also known as ‘compulsory’ jurisdiction),[2] a jurisdictional clause in bilateral or multilateral treaties (‘treaty based’ jurisdiction),[3] or through an agreement among parties accepting to submit a matter to the ICJ in the event of a dispute (‘special…