A Hopeless Case: Australia v. Singapore in the ICJ

An Australian national convicted by Singapore of drug running is facing execution next week, causing much justifiable angst in Australia. Some are advising the Australian government to seek a provisional measures order from the ICJ to stop the execution. As Australia’s Prime Minister announced today, however, such an appeal to the ICJ would be “pointless” because Singapore hasn’t done anything illegal.

I agree that an appeal to ICJ is a hopeless case because Singapore does not accept the compulsory jurisdiction of the ICJ and because Singapore almost certainly hasn’t violated any treaty or international law obligations it owes to Australia in convicting and then sentencing the Australian national to death. If the ICJ got involved, though, the court might prove my skepticism about their slow and ineffectiveness wrong. But I doubt it.