GENERAL RECOMMENDATIONS OF THE HUMAN RIGHTS TREATY BODIES - THE GUIDELINES FOR STATES OR A CONTRIBUTION TO FURTHER FRAGMENTATION OF INTERNATIONAL LAW?

RETROSPECTIVE OVERVIEW OF THE JUDGEMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE IN THE QATAR V. UNITED ARAB EMIRATES CASE

Abstract

In February of 2021 the International Court of Justice delivered a judgment in the case involving a dispute between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates that considered the interpretation of the Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination. This judgment represents a sort of judicial epilogue to the longer political dispute between the Gulf states. The judgement renounced discrimination based on citizenship as a form of discrimination under the CERD, which is a position contrary to the one expressed by the Committee on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination in its general recommendations. This opens a few questions. The first one includes the legitimacy and legal character of the general recommendations. Another even broader question is concerning the fragmentation of international law as a process in which divergences in interpretation by conventional bodies, international, and regional courts can play a significant role as indicators. This paper, through contextualizing specific issues raised in the proceedings before the International Court of Justice in the dispute between Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, discusses the aforementioned questions that significantly define relationships between contemporary international law and protection of human rights as its integral part.