Permanent Court of Arbitration

Headquarters - Hague , Netherlands
Not an United Nations Agency
Intergovernmental organisation
India is a member
PCA was established in 1899
The PCA is not a “court" in the conventional understanding of that term but an administrative organization with the object of having permanent and readily available means to serve as the registry for purposes of international arbitration
Mandate

provides services of arbitral tribunal to resolve disputes between member states, international organizations, or private parties arising out of international agreements.
cases span a range of legal issues involving territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade

Though it is not a UN body, PCA also administers cases under the arbitration rules of the UNCITRAL United Nations Commission on International Trade Law
Unlike the International Court of Justice, the Permanent Court of Arbitration has no sitting judges the parties themselves select the arbitrators. Another difference is that sessions of the Permanent Court of Arbitration are held in private and are confidential.
Procedure for Arbitration

Firstly, parties submit so called "compromisis", stating the issue and the competence of the arbitrator(s)
Secondly, there is a verbal debate in front of the Court that retires once the debate is over to deliberate and conclude the case by a simple majority of votes.
The verdict is binding on the parties and no appeal is allowed. However, a minor restriction for revision is made in case fresh evidence of a decisive nature has come up between the debate and the award. Naturally, any decision as to its relevance and the subsequent admission of the request is up to the Court, while the compromise fixes the period within which the demand for revision must be made.

India related cases

Italian marines case â Massimiliano Latorre and Mr. Girone were accused of killing two Indian fishermen
Ruled against Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) commercial arm “Antrix” Cor ion: PCA has ruled against the Indian government over the cancellation of a contract between telecommunications firm Devas Multimedia and Antrix Corporation Ltd.

International Criminal Court ICC

ICC is an independent international organisation, intergovernmental organisation and it is not a part of the United Nations system.

Headquarters at Hague, Netherlands
Established under Rome Statute-ICC and Trust fund for victims
Structure

The ICC has four principal organs: the Presidency, the Judicial Divisions, the Office of the Prosecutor, and the Registry.

Functions of ICC

To prosecute those responsible for genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes – committed anywhere in the world.It is a court of last resort, intervening only when national authorities cannot or will not prosecute.

Different from ICJ International Court of Justice under UN. ICC can prosecute individuals while ICJ cannot
Jurisdiction

No retrospective jurisdiction- cannot deal with crimes committed before 2002
Automatic jurisdiction for crimes committed

on the territory of a state which has ratified the treaty; or by a citizen of such a state; or
when the United Nations Security Council refers a case to it. (implies that ICC associates with UNSC)

It also implies that ICC can exercise its authority on its non-member states when UNSC forwards the issue to it

ICC has no police force of its own to track down and arrest suspects. Instead it must rely on national police services to make arrests and seek their transfer to The Hague

China, India, Pakistan, Indonesia, and Turkey did not sign the treaty and US didn’t ratified it. Recently Burundi (Central Africa), Gambia (Ea Africa), South Africa and Russia came out of ICC
India not a member
Binding conditions

Non Party members consent is required to adjudicate a case in that respective state
However, if the case is referred by UNSC, all members of UN should oblige to cooperate and its decisions are binding

ICJ has sitting judges, ICC has sitting judges, PCA has no sitting judges
ICC: Areas of Concern

Lack of Jurisdiction- ICC does not have jurisdiction over some of the most powerful nations in the world such as US, Russia, China and Israel.
Narrow Mandate- It does not investigate rights violations of five permanent members of the UN Security Council: the US, Great Britain, France, Russia and China.
No free authority- its authority is dependent on the cooperation of the international community.
Politicized Prosecution and Unaccountable Prosecutors despite having safeguards in place against politically motivated prosecutions.
Ambiguity between State Sovereignty vs Universal Jurisdiction- Ambiguities arise in the relationship between the legal and political underpinnings of the ICC because the Court is weakened by policies that remain dominated by a sovereign model, despite operating principally within a universalist legal framework.
Weakening trust on ICC as some countries particularly African perceived ICC is biased against Africa and also cannot hold big global powers to account for human rights violations
More worrying is the mood across the African Union to defy the jurisdiction of the Rome Statute, the founding treaty of the ICC

Comparison

ICJ	ICC	PCA
UN	Not UN [associates with UN] Inter-Governmental	Not UN [may deal with UNCTRAL cases] Inter-Governmental PCA is official UN observer
India member	India not a member	India member
Hague	Hague	Hague
Has Sitting Judges	Has Sitting Judges	No sitting judges
B/w Member states	By State/Private/UNSC Only deals with genocide, crimes against humanity, and war crimes, crimes of aggression on the territory of a state which has ratified the treaty; or by a citizen of such a state; or when the United Nations Security Council refers a case to it. (implies that ICC associates with UNSC) Court of last resort when national authorities cannot	disputes between member states, international organizations, or private parties arising out of international agreements.
No individuals	Can be individuals	Can be individuals
Contentious between parties, (2) Advisory opinions	Criminal prosecution of individuals	Arbitral tribunal for international agreements.
Member states consent required before starting case	Members of ICC - automatic consent Nonmember parties - prior consent required UNSC referred cases - all UN members auto consent	Member states consent required before starting case
Sovereignty, boundary disputes, maritime disputes, trade, natural resources, human rights, treaty violations, treaty interpretation, and more	Genocide, crimes against humanity, war crimes, crimes of aggression	Territorial and maritime boundaries, sovereignty, human rights, international investment, and international and regional trade
Its judgments have binding force and are without appeal for the parties concerned. If a State fails to comply with the judgment, the issue may be taken to the UN Security Council, which has the authority to review, recommend, and decide up.	Members - binding Non-members - no legal obligation UNSC referred cases - binding if state is UN member Appeals chamber	Verdict is binding and no appeal is allowed unless strong evidence
1946	2002	1899
Gambia -Myanmar Rohingyas genocide case		Italian Marine case Davos-Antrix case

Courts & Arbitration