International Court of Justice ( ICJ )

Topic 1: Whaling in the Antarctic (Australia v. Japan: New Zealand intervening)

On 31 May 2010, Australia instituted proceedings against Japan in respect of “Japan’s
continued pursuit of a large-scale program of whaling under the Second Phase of its
Japanese Whale Research Program under Special Permit in the Antarctic (‘JARPA Il’), in
breach of obligations assumed by Japan under the International Convention for the
Regulation of Whaling (‘ICRW’), as well as its other international obligations for the
preservation of marine mammals and the marine environment”.

Topic 2: Que stions of jurisdictional immunities of the State and measures of
constraint against State-owned property (Germany v. Italy)

As the Court is aware, Italian domestic courts have in the past disregarded the
jurisdictional immunity of Germany as a sovereign State by allowing civil claims to be
brought against Germany based on violations of international humanitarian law
committed by the German Reich during World War II. Prompted by three decisions of the
Italian Corte di Cassazione rendered between 2004 and 2008, as well as measures
of constraint taken against a particular German State-owned property located on Lake
Como (“Villa Vigoni”), on 23 December 2008 Germany instituted proceedings against
Italy before the Court. And that the Italian Republic has violated its obligation to respect
the immunity which the Federal Republic of Germany enjoys under international law by
allowing civil claims to be brought against it based on violations of international
humanitarian law committed by the German Reich between 1943 and 1945.