Request Made by the FR of Yugoslavia for the Institution of Proceedings before the International Court of Justice
Request Made by the FR of Yugoslavia for the Institution of Proceedings before the International Court of Justice

Summary/Abstract: On 29 April 1999, Yugoslavia filed with the International Court of Justice in The Hague a request for the institution of proceedings against ten NATO member states (USA, Great Britain, France, Germany, Italy, Spain, Portugal, Canada, Netherlands and Belgium) which are taking part in the aggression against Yugoslavia, as well as a request for the indication of provisional measures for the immediate discontinuation of the bombing of Yugoslavia. In the request for the institution of proceedings, it was stated that by taking part in the bombing of the FR of Yugoslavia, these states have violated the obligation not to use force against another state and that by training, arming, financing and equipping the terrorist groups of the so-called KLA, they avoided to abide by the obligation not to interfere in the internal affairs of another state. By bombing civilian targets in the FR of Yugoslavia, these countries also violated the following obligations: to protect the civilian population and civilian buildings in armed conflicts; not to aim their action in the course of hostilities at goods making up the cultural heritage of a nation; not to cause heavy damage to the environment; not to use prohibited weapons (depleted uranium was used in their weapons); not to pose a threat to the right to live, work, health, information and other basic human rights (by killing civilians, destroying enterprises, lines of communication, health care and cultural institutions) and to observe the freedom of navigation on international rivers (by destroying bridges). By performing all of these acts and particularly by causing harm to the environment and using the depleted uranium, the aggressor states violated the obligation not to deliberately inflict the conditions of life calculated to cause the physical destruction of a national group wholly or in part, which is an act of genocide.

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