On 1 April 2026, the Rio Course on Regional and International Dispute Settlement (Rio CRIDS) was honored to welcome Dr. Arman Sarvarian, Reader in Public International Law at the University of Surrey. The course is held by the FGV Jean Monnet Centre of Excellence, co-funded by the European Union under the Erasmus+ programme and directed by Prof. Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida.

In his lecture, moderated by Prof. Paula Wojcikiewicz Almeida, Dr. Sarvarian discussed the advisory jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The Court is busier than ever, with not only a higher number of cases, but also of state participation and complexity of issues. Nevertheless, it is under budgetary constraints.  It, then, faces an unprecedented challenge on how to do more with less and how to protect its institutional reputation. One of such obstacles is the existence of contentious disputes within advisory proceedings. Due to the scarcity of ICJ rules for advisory proceedings, there is little to distinguish the advisory jurisdiction from the contentious one.

Dr. Sarvarian identified three main challenges for advisory proceedings: timing (there is high variability in deadlines between cases); participation (this inconsistency impacts whether states join other cases); and access (NGOs, for instance, are not part of advisory proceedings). Moreover, the Court only once acknowledged, in the Western Sahara advisory opinion, that a contentious dispute had been brought before it, but it did not treat the matter as thoroughly as it ordinarily would with a contentious case. Dr. Sarvarian held that the ICJ should acknowledge more frequently that it is dealing with contentious issues, but the consequences of this distinction should be much clearer. He concluded that, in the current geopolitical situation, states increasingly resort to international courts and tribunals, including and in particular the ICJ, so the treatment of the advisory jurisdiction should be more robust and effective.

We sincerely thank Dr. Sarvarian for this informative class. We look forward to further collaboration.