YUGOSLAVIA CHALLENGES ICJ'S JURISDICTION

THE HAGUE/ZAGREB, Nov 4 (Hina) - The Hague-based International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Monday started a four-day session at which it will deliberate a request by the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (FRY) that the ICJ re-consider its jurisdiction over a lawsuit Bosnia-Herzegovina filed against the FRY for violations of the UN convention on genocide. #L# The FRY submitted the request last April, in line with Article 61 of the ICJ statute, which envisages that such requests can be filed when some new decisive fact is discovered. The FRY claims that the new, until now unknown fact is that it is not the legal successor to the Socialist Federal Republic of Yugoslavia (SFRY) and that it was not a UN member until November 1, 2000, from which it arises that the FRY was also not a signatory to the ICJ statute or the UN Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide. Joining the Genocide Convention is possible for UN members or other states which are urged to do so by the UN General Assembly. The FRY's joining the UN in 2000 "is the new fact", which in 1996 was not known either to Belgrade or the ICJ. In March 1993 Bosnia-Herzegovina filed a request to the ICJ asking that it be allowed to sue the FRY for violating the Genocide Convention by war destruction. In the first part of the proceedings, which are yet to establish if the lawsuit is within the court's jurisdiction, the FRY has already tried to challenge the ICJ's jurisdiction. In July 1996 the ICJ dismissed the appeal, declaring itself competent to conduct the lawsuit in line with Article 9 of the Genocide Convention. The ICJ is the UN's highest judicial body, authorised to solve disputes among UN member-states. In July 1999 Croatia, too, sued Yugoslavia before the ICJ for violations of the Convention on Genocide. (hina) rml sb