The ICJ rejects appeals with regard to the jurisdiction of the ICAO Council

News Loretta Malintoppi (Rome) 16th July 2020

In two judgments delivered on 14 July 2020, the International Court of Justice (the “Court”) unanimously rejected the appeals brought by Bahrain, Egypt, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates against Qatar with regard to the jurisdiction of the Council of the International Civil Aviation Organization (“ICAO Council”).  In the two cases the Court carried out an appellate review of decisions of the ICAO Council. The Court’s judgments held that Qatar’s claims arising from the Respondent States’ prohibition on all Qatar-registered aircraft from overflying their territories, and flying to or from their airports, are within the jurisdiction of the Council and can be decided on their merits.

Proceedings before the ICAO Council, which had been suspended pending the appeals before the Court, will now resume and the ICAO Council will hear the merits of Qatar’s claims.

Loretta Malintoppi acted as counsel and advocate for Qatar. Qatar’s legal team before the Court was headed by its Agent, Dr. Mohammed Abdulaziz Al-Khulaifi, Legal Adviser to H.E. the Deputy Prime Minister and Minister for Foreign Affairs of the State of Qatar and Dean of Qatar University College of Law and included Professor Vaughan Lowe QC; Professor Pierre Klein; Dr. Ioannis Konstantinidis; and attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP. and Foley Hoag LLP.

In addition to representing Qatar in these proceedings, Ms Malintoppi also represents Qatar before the Court in a case brought under the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”).

The full texts of the Court’s judgments can be found here and here.

A news report from the International Court of Justice on the matter can be found here.

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Loretta Malintoppi (Rome)