International judicial institutions can be divided into courts, arbitral tribunals and quasi-judicial institutions. Courts are permanent bodies, with near the same composition for each case. Arbitral tribunals, by contrast, are constituted anew for each case. Both courts and arbitral tribunals can make binding decisions. Quasi-judicial institutions, by contrast, make rulings on cases, but these rulings are not in themselves legally binding; the main example is the individual complaints mechanisms available under the various UN human rights treaties.

Institutions can also be divided into global and regional institutions.

The listing below incorporates both currently existing institutions, defunct institutions that no longer exist, institutions which never came into existence due to non-ratification of their constitutive instruments, and institutions which do not yet exist, but for which constitutive instruments have been signed. It does not include mere proposed institutions for which no instrument was ever signed.

Global institutions - Courts

• International Court of Justice
• International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea
• International Criminal Tribunal for the Former Yugoslavia
• International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda
• International Criminal Court (not yet established)
• WTO Appelate Body
• International Military Tribunal (defunct)
• International Military Tribunal for the Far East (defunct)
• International Prize Court (never established)

Global institutions - Arbitral Tribunals

• Permanent Court of Arbitration
• WTO Dispute Settlement Panels
• International Centre for the Settlement of Investment Disputes

Global institutions - Quasi-judicial Institutions - check whether the names below are correct, and if the below institutions are the optional procedure ones

• Human Rights Committee
• Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Racial Discrimination
• Committee on the Elimination of all forms of Discrimination Against Women

Regional institutions - Europe

• European Court of Justice
• European Court of Human Rights
• European Tribunal in Matters of State Immunity
• European Nuclear Energy Tribunal
• Benelux Court of Justice

Regional institutions - the Americas

• Inter-American Court of Human Rights
• Central American Court of Justice (defunct?)
• ALADI, CARICOM, MERCOSUR, Central American Community institutions?

Regional institutions - Africa

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