Judges at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in The Hague have rejected a request from Nicaragua for provisional measures over Germany’s military exports to Israel. It was a majority ruling, with only one of the 16 judges dissenting.

In its order, the ICJ stated: “Based on the factual information and legal arguments presented by the Parties, the Court concludes that, at present, the circumstances are not such as to require the exercise of its power under Article 41 of the Statute to indicate provisional measures.”

Nicaragua had argued that Germany had provided political, financial, and military support to Israel while fully aware that the military equipment would be used in the commission by Israel of “great breaches of international law” and in disregard of its own obligations.

The provisional measures requested by Nicaragua included ordering Germany to suspend its aid to Israel, including military equipment, “in so far as this aid may be used in the violation of the Genocide Convention, international humanitarian law, or other peremptory norms of general international law”.

Nicaragua argued that the military equipment provided by Germany had enabled Israel to perpetrate genocidal acts and other atrocities.

Germany denied Nicaragua’s allegation that it had violated its obligations under the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide.

The director-general for legal affairs at the German Foreign Office, Tania von Uslar-Gleichen, told the ICJ judges on April 9 that Germany firmly rejected Nicaragua’s accusation.

Nicaragua was taking a one-sided view of the conflict in question and failed to properly appreciate both the facts and the law in this situation, Von Uslar-Gleichen said.

She said that Nicaragua’s request to the court had no basis in law or fact and there were no legal reasons to justify the requested provisional measures.

Professor of international law Christian Tams told the court that 98% of the licences granted by Germany after October 7, 2023, did not concern war weapons but other military equipment. More than 25% of this equipment was designed for eventual re-importation and use by the German armed forces, he said.

As Nicaragua was not represented on the panel of ICJ judges, Jordanian Judge Awn Shawkat Al-Khasawneh was appointed as an ad hoc judge for the proceedings. He was the one judge who voted against the ruling delivered today (Tuesday).

The ICJ said it remained deeply concerned about “the catastrophic living conditions of the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, in particular, in view of the prolonged and widespread deprivation of food and other basic necessities to which they have been subjected, as acknowledged by the court in its order of March 28, 2024 …”

The court added that it considered it to be particularly important to remind all states of their international obligations relating to the transfer of arms to parties to an armed conflict, in order to avoid the risk that such arms might be used to violate the Genocide Convention and the 1949 Geneva conventions on international humanitarian law, and that “all these obligations are incumbent upon Germany as a State party to the said Conventions in its supply of arms to Israel”.

The court will still hear arguments from both sides on the merits of Nicaragua’s case.

The ICJ said the decision it announced today in no way prejudged the question of the jurisdiction of the court to deal with the merits of the case or any questions relating to the admissibility of the application or to the merits themselves.

“It leaves unaffected the right of the governments of Nicaragua and Germany to submit arguments in respect of those questions,” the court said.

The judges ruled that the court could not accede to Germany’s request that the case be removed from the ICJ’s General List.

“In the present case, there being no manifest lack of jurisdiction, the court cannot accede to Germany’s request,” presiding judge Nawaf Salam said.

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