The Standard of Proof at the International Court of Justice

We are delighted to invite you to a discussion on the standard of proof at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) with Dr. Amanda Bills. The standard of proof is a central, yet underexplored, aspect of the ICJ's judicial decision-making. Although central in shaping both fact-establishment and judicial outcomes, the articulation and application of the standard of proof by the Court is marked by inconsistency and a lack of transparent justification, which is often linked to an assumed flexibility in the Court's evidentiary regime. This topical issue is the subject of Dr. Bills' doctoral dissertation, The Standard of Proof at the ICJ: On Evidentiary Standards and Judicial Decision-Making at the International Court of Justice (Lund 2025).

Dr. Amanda Bills is a Law Clerk at the Administrative Court of Malmö. She earned her Doctorate in Public International Law at Lund University and has held visiting appointments at the iCourts Centre of Excellence for International Courts and Governance at the University of Copenhagen and the Grotius Centre for International Legal Studies at Leiden University.

The discussion will be moderated by Dr. Maria Fogdestam Agius, a partner in the Dispute Resolution Group at Westerberg & Partners. Dr. Fogdestam Agius advises and represents states and private parties in matters relating to public international law, treaty-based dispute settlement, and international human rights. She regularly represent clients in international courts and tribunals and in international arbitral proceedings, and she has appeared as an advocate before the ICJ in the Hague.

A reception will follow after the discussion.

Registration

Please register your attendance no later than Friday 13 February at 12:00 via email to sekretariat@ilasweden.se.

Welcome!