Racial non-discrimination before the International Court of Justice: Qatar against the United Arab Emirates

Abstract

The paper analyses the judgment of the International Court of Justice in the lawsuit of Qatar against the United Arab Emirates on the application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination and its contribution to the development of anti-discrimination law. The motives and procedural actions of the parties, the reasoning of the Court, and the consequences of the judgment are analysed, using legal, social, and philosophical methodologies. The research results in findings that the Court did not take into account the practice of human rights monitoring bodies. Instead, the Court teleologically interpreted the Convention and found that the substantive scope of the Convention does not cover nationality as a protected ground. This judgment does not give rise to optimism regarding further articulation and systematization of anti-discrimination law. Parochialism will certainly continue to prevail in the definition of the concept, protected grounds and relations, and purposes of protection against discrimination. Nevertheless, this judgment is useful in a few aspects: for the assessment of procedural prospects in the future similar proceedings, for understanding the scope of the Convention, and, in particular, for the understanding of various meanings of the notion of nationality within different contexts.