On November 12, 2024, the International Court of Justice (“ICJ”) issued two Judgments on the preliminary objections raised by the parties in the parallel cases Application of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (Armenia v. Azerbaijan and Azerbaijan v. Armenia). Foley Hoag LLP is part of the legal team representing Armenia in these proceedings.

In its Judgment in Armenia v. Azerbaijan, the Court rejected all of Azerbaijan’s preliminary objections. Azerbaijan had asked the Court to dismiss Armenia’s Application in its entirety on the basis that Armenia had allegedly failed to fulfill the negotiation precondition required by Article 22 of the International Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Discrimination (“CERD”). Additionally, or alternatively, Azerbaijan had requested the Court to deny jurisdiction over Armenia’s claims concerning the unlawful murder, torture and inhuman treatment of ethnic Armenians by members of Azerbaijan’s Armed Forces, Azerbaijan’s arbitrary detention of ethnic Armenians, and Azerbaijan’s enforced disappearances of ethnic Armenians, which Azerbaijan claimed fell outside of the scope of CERD. In a sweeping victory for Armenia, the Court rejected Azerbaijan’s first objection by 16 votes to 1, and Azerbaijan’s second objection by 15 votes to 2. The case will now proceed to the merits phase.

In its parallel Judgment in Azerbaijan v. Armenia, the Court substantially narrowed the scope of Azerbaijan’s claims against Armenia on the merits. First, the Court ruled by 14 votes to 3 that it lacked jurisdiction over Azerbaijan’s claims and contentions concerning events that transpired prior to the entry into force of the CERD as between the Parties on September 15, 1996. Second, the Court found, by 13 votes to 4, that it lacked jurisdiction over Azerbaijan’s claims and contentions concerning alleged environmental harm. And third, as regards to Armenia’s objection to Azerbaijan’s claims related to the alleged use of landmines and booby traps, Azerbaijan represented to Court, during the hearing on Preliminary Objection, that it was not raising these contentions as distinct claims of breach of the CERD, but rather as part of a broader claim. As result, the Court found Armenia’s preliminary objection to Azerbaijan’s claims related to landmines to be without object and permitted such contentions to be reviewed at the merits stage.
 
“Today’s historic rulings by the ICJ pave the way for the Court to consider all of Armenia’s claims under the CERD while simultaneously setting stark limits on the claims presented by Azerbaijan,” said partner and Co-Chair of Foley Hoag’s International Litigation & Arbitration Department Constantinos Salonidis, who co-leads the defense team for Armenia. “The Judgements represent an extraordinary victory for Armenia and its search for justice before the Court,” he continued.

Earlier in the proceedings, the ICJ had also sided with Armenia and against Azerbaijan in Armenia’s three separate requests for provisional measures in Armenia v. Azerbaijan, in Orders issued on December 7, 2021, February 22, 2023, and November 17, 2023.
 
Foley Hoag’s team of lawyers is headed by Salonidis, partner Joseph Klingler, senior counsel Lawrence Martin, special counsel Pierre d’Argent, and includes associates Peter Tzeng, Iulia Padeanu Mellon, Juan Pablo Hugues, Natalia Tchoukleva, Amir Farhadi, Yasmin Al Ameen, Diem Huong Ho, Nour Nicolas, Margaux Mery, Harout Ekmanian, Nanami Hirata, and María Camila Rincón. Professors Sean Murphy of George Washington University Law School, Alexander Sicilianos of the University of Athens, and Alison Macdonald KC of Essex Chambers are also part of Armenia’s legal team.

The Government is represented by its Agent Dr. Yeghishe Kirakosyan, Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters, and attorneys Dr. Liparit Drmeyan, Kristine Khanazadyan, and Aram Aramyan, from the Office of the Representative of the Republic of Armenia on International Legal Matters.

Foley Hoag specializes in the representation of sovereign States in disputes with other States and foreign investors before international courts and arbitral tribunals. It has been ranked by Chambers and Partners Global in Band 1, the highest rating given, for over a decade.