States have had difficulties bringing claims before international dispute settlement bodies due to jurisdictional constraints. Armenia has brought numerous claims before dispute-settlement bodies regarding the conflict in Nagorno-Karabakh. The impact of these applications is questionable, especially when contrasted with the situation on the ground. The practice of bringing numerous claims which do not touch upon the crux of the dispute has also been employed by Georgia, Ukraine and other states in the past. To date, the results of these cases have not been uniform. While it is true that these attempts are not always successful, States persist in following this path, which proves that the legal process mirrors the political and military realities and cannot be clinically detached from these.
Author: Ilias Plakokefalos, Assistant Professor of Public International Law, National & Kapodistrian University of Athens.
This text has originally been published on the ELIAMEP website.
