UN Court reaffirms 'no-link' to South China Sea arbitral tribunal

Beijing, July 16 (ANI): The United Nations and the International Court of Justice (ICJ) have recently issued statements to reiterate that they are not connected to or involved with the temporary arbitral tribunal established for the South China Sea dispute, brought unilaterally by the Philippines. The spokesperson of UN Secretary-General had earlier stated that "the UN doesn't have a position on the legal and procedural merits of the case or on the disputed claims," reports People's China Daily. The UN's official account on Sina Weibo, a Chinese social networking site, posted that the tribunal has nothing to do with the UN. "The ICJ, located at the Peace Palace, is the principal judicial organ of the UN, which was established in accordance with the UN Charter," the post said. The Peace Place is built to house the Permanent Court of International Justice, the predecessor of the ICJ, by the Carnegie Foundation. The UN donates to the foundation annually for using the building, the post explained. "Another tenant of the Peace Palace is the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) established in 1899, but it has no correlation with the UN," the post further pointed out. Former ICJ Judge Abdul Koroma futher said that the temporary tribunal is not an UN institution and the PCA is not a court in a real sense. "Many people who are not familiar with the situation would confuse the tribunal with the ICJ who shares the same office building," Koroma noted. The PCA is merely an international mediation agency that allows arbitration for non-state entities and individuals. With this the UN and the ICJ, both have distanced themselves from the South China Sea arbitration award saying they have no involvement in the case. (ANI)