At present the Interim Court (IC) is the only court functioning in the World Citizens’ Tribunal (WOCIT). The Rules of the Preparatory Committee provides that ‘The Interim Court shall only supervise preparatory affairs for application of a case to be submitted and to conduct a preparatory trial, not examine any question of its jurisdiction and the merit, provided that applying the Statute of the World Citizens’ Tribunal, Chapter 23, the Court may recommend Provisional Measures or Urgent measures to contesting parties.’ (Article 8. As for Rules of the Preparatory Committee see en jp. As for the above-mentioned Chapter 23 see en jp）

     The interim period began from 31 May, 2000 and shall finish at the time of setting up the Court of the Administration and the Central Court.（Covenant of the Preparatory Committee, Article 10. As for the Court of the Administration see en jp. As for the Central Court see en jp）

There is not an expressive provision at the time of setting up the Court of the Administration and the Central Court, they may be established in some years or 5-10 years. It does not mean, however, that the IC is meaningless.

     Firstly, the IC can recommend Provisional or Urgent Measures to the contesting parties. By “Urgent Measures” we mean measures of a provisional nature designed to meet matters of paramount urgency which may be decided by the President alone or on the basis of Judges’ answers to a questionnaire submitted by them. The President of the Court shall indicate or recommend urgent measures as soon as possible, among others, as for the following acts:

　　a. An act or its preparation which is clearly against international law and which is condemned by international society and the United Nations.
　　b. An act, its preparation or suggestion which is probably against international law but realization of which would clearly aggravate the circumstances of the Earth or Cosmos.�
　　c. An act, its preparation or suggestion which tramples down lives and fundamental rights of many Citizens as a result of belligerent acts no matter which party is aggressive; and
　　d. Preparation which is probably against international law, and which would influence upon vested rights and make impossible recovery of the present state probably or perfectly if the preparation would be carried out.� （en　en）

In the "Kashimir Case," IC President Rikio Kaneko　recommended to Indian and Pakistan leaders Urgent Measures 3 times, requesting them 1) Never to initiate the use of nuclear weapons at any time, in any place and in any situation;2) To suppress the use of warlike language which suggests the possibility that "our side" might resort first to nuclear weapons; 3) To stop immediately all preparations for nuclear war, if any; and　4) To declare immediately to all the world that one’s own country will not use nuclear weapons first, so long as the other party in contention does not use them. （the first  the second  the third） Thus the system of Urgent Measures, which only IC President may decide, made it possible for the WOCIT Courts to act more immediately than any court at a critical time enumerated in the above-mentioned 4 items.

      Secondly, even if the IC is not able to express its own conclusive opinion on legal facts or legal principles and rules to be applied to a given case, it may request actors, conflicting parties or specialists to give one’s own opinion or evidence and, if the IC itself is ready, the Court may investigate the case.

It is noteworthy that even in the Interim Period, besides the IC there remains room for establishing other courts in the WOCIT. For example, 1) a State (or States in accordance with their agreement) may submit a case to the WOCIT, then the WOCIT will do its best to settle the case. 2) On one’s own initiative, the WOCIT may create such Special Courts as the Territorial Court or Asian Human Rights Court even at the Interim Period. In such situation there will exist some Courts and some Presidents of these Courts.(As for Asian Human Rights Court see en jp. As to the Territorial Court see jp）　

=====URLs which concern the WOCIT directly or indirectly are as follows.===== 　
１.  Composition of the IC (jp  en）
２．The cases which were submitted to the IC (jp  en)
３．Rules concerning the WOCIT
     １) Covenant of the Preparatory Committee (jp  en）
     ２）Rules of the Preparatory Committee (jp  en)
(４. Interim Rules on Election of Judges (en jp) It is probable that general election of Judges provided for in the said Rules will not take place in 2007, ill-prepared.)