The Polish Review of International and European Law invites submissions for an issue on the advisory proceedings before the International Court of Justice

In recent years, the growing importance of the advisory opinions issued by the International Court of Justice has been particularly noticeable. Lately, the ICJ has issued two advisory opinions on the Chagos Archipelago and Occupied Palestinian Territory and the third on climate change is expected on 23rd July. The two opinions already issued dealt with the interpretation of fundamental principles of international law and have made a significant contribution to its understanding. The weight of these opinions has also been recognised by other international courts, in particular recently by the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. In addition to the advisory opinion on climate change, there are currently two further advisory opinions in the ICJ docket: on the obligations of Israel and the right to strike. As a result, the growing  practice suggests the need to evaluate the use, procedure and effects of the advisory proceedings of International Court of Justice taking into account inter alia such issues as:

• Cross fertilisation of advisory proceedings and contentious disputes before the ICJ;
• The contribution of advisory opinions to determining the content of fundamental principles of international law;
• Contribution of the ICJ advisory opinions to international law-making;
• Advisory opinions as de facto precedents; their impact on the decisions of other international courts and tribunals;
• Impact of advisory proceedings, in particular with a large number of states and IOs participating, on the procedure before the Court;
• The need for “implementation” of advisory opinions at international and national levels.

We invite you to submit an abstract of the manuscript (max. 400 words) to k.maslo@uksw.edu.pl no later than 20 August 2025. Please include the following information: author name(s) and affiliation(s). The abstract should also clearly indicate the timeliness of the topic and its suitability for this call for papers.

Deadlines

Deadline for submission of abstracts                                                           20 August 2025

Deadline for notification of acceptance of proposed contribution       29 August 2025

Submission of full paper                                                                                   31 October 2025

Publication                                                                                                           January 2026