For the second time in less than a year, Foley Hoag has helped secure a historic victory for the State of Qatar (“Qatar”) in proceedings before the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) concerning violations by the United Arab Emirates (“UAE”) of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”). 

The ICJ, also known as the World Court, sits in The Hague and is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.

In a 15-1 decision of 14 June 2019, the ICJ rejected all four provisional measures requested by the UAE, which it had claimed were necessary to preserve its “procedural rights” and prevent Qatar from “aggravating or extending” the dispute.

Today’s victory builds upon Qatar’s success in securing another decisive win on its own request for provisional measures just last July. In accordance with the procedural timetable set by the ICJ in the main proceedings, Qatar will now file its observations on the UAE’s Preliminary Objections in late August.  

Foley Hoag partners Lawrence Martin and Constantinos Salonidis represent Qatar in these proceedings along with attorneys from Debevoise & Plimpton LLP; Professor Pierre Klein of the Université libre de Bruxelles; Mr. Vaughan Lowe, Emeritus Professor of International Law at Oxford University; and Assistant Professor Ioannis Konstantinidis of the College of Law at Qatar University. Other Foley Hoag attorneys on the team are special counsel and Professor of International Law at the University of Louvain Pierre d’Argent; counsel Arsalan Suleman; and associates Joseph Klingler, Peter Tzeng, Tracy Roosevelt, Ofilio Mayorga, and Nick Renzler.

Foley Hoag is also representing Qatar in a distinct dispute with the UAE - along with Saudi Arabia, Egypt and Bahrain - in proceedings before the ICJ under the Convention on International Civil Aviation.  

Foley Hoag specializes in representing States before the ICJ and other international courts and tribunals. It is the world’s leading law firm in the litigation and arbitration of disputes between States.