The International Court of Justice is located in The Hague, Netherlands and was established by the Charter of the United Nations in 1945 and acts as a world court. The ICJ was created to develop methods settle international disputes, mediate between member states, arbitrate and negotiate.

The International Court of Justice and is composed of fifteen elected judges. Each judge will serve a nine year term, and elections are held every three years. At these elections one third of the judges will retire, which provides continuity. The current judges of the International Court of Justice are:

Hisashi Owada, from Japan
Bruno Simmam, from Germany
Leonid Skotnikov , from Russia
Peter Tomka, from Slovakia
Mohamed Bennouna, from Morocco
Bernardo Sepulveda Amor, from Mexico
Abdul G. Koroma , from Sierra Leone
Abdulqawi Yusuf, from Somalia
Sir Christopher John Greenwood, from the United Kingdom
Antnnio Augusto Cancado Trindade, from Brazil
Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh, from Jordan
Xue Hanqin , from the People's Republic of China
Joan Donoghue, from the United States
Ronny Abraham, from France
Sir Kenneth Keith, from New Zealand

The role of the court is to settle legal disputes as well as advise on legal issues from the United Nations committee's and specialized agencies. Peace Palace is also home to one of the largest public international law libraries on the globe, and has been collecting material and books since 1913.

With courts and administrative offices in The Hague, Netherlands, the International Court of Justice can be found at Peace Palace, Carnegieplein 2, 2517 KJ.