The International Court of Justice, or ICJ, is currently dealing with an unprecedented number of cases from around the world, particularly as the Middle East continues to be mired in conflict.

That’s according to Belgian jurist Philippe Gautier who has held the post of Registrar of the ICJ since August 2019, giving him the title of the senior-most official who heads the Secretariat of the Court.

In an interview at the UN Headquarters in NY on Friday, he told UN News’s Julia Foxen that today’s profound geopolitical tensions require the UN’s principal judicial organ – commonly known as the world court – to maintain its autonomous and independent role “without taking sides in the political arena”.