Canada’s Utilization of the International Court of Justice to Promote Gender-Sensitive Foreign Policy on Accountability, Human Rights, and Peacebuilding

This chapter considers Canada’s recent turn to using the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as a forum for state responsibility for international crimes, including in the Gambia v Myanmar case concerning the Rohingya, the Ukraine v Russia case concerning Russia’s 2022 invasion of Ukraine, and the Canada and Netherlands v Syria case regarding serious human rights violations in the Syrian armed conflict. This chapter begins by outlining Canada’s general foreign policy approach to gender-sensitive accountability for human rights violations in armed conflict rising to the level of international crimes. It then examines each of the three cases in turn, making the link between Canada’s support for accountability through the ICJ and other accountability efforts, such as referral of situations to the International Criminal Court and funding of international investigative mechanisms. It concludes that Canada views the ICJ as a new frontier for implementing gender-sensitive foreign policy on human rights and peacebuilding, and Canada has helped to launch a new era for the ICJ. However, this utilization of the ICJ has drawbacks, including those created by the Court’s own limits on interventions and jurisdiction.