-3Whether the procedural preconditions under Article 22 of CERD have been met. Whether two preconditions alternative or cumulative  Application of rules of customary international law on treaty interpretation  Meaning of conjunction “or” in phrase “not settled by negotiation or by the procedures expressly provided for in [CERD]”  Term “or” may have either disjunctive or conjunctive meaning  Article 22 must be interpreted in its context  Negotiation and CERD Committee procedure two means to achieve same objective  Context of Article 22 does not support a reading that preconditions cumulative in nature  Article 22 must also be interpreted in light of object and purpose of CERD  Aim of States parties to eradicate racial discrimination effectively and promptly  Achievement of such aims more difficult if procedural preconditions under Article 22 cumulative  No need to examine travaux préparatoires of CERD  Article 22 imposes alternative preconditions to the Court’s jurisdiction. Whether the Parties attempted to negotiate settlement to their dispute  Notion of “negotiation”  Precondition of negotiation met when there has been a failure of negotiations, or when negotiations have become futile or deadlocked  Genuine attempt at negotiation made by Ukraine  Negotiations between the Parties futile or deadlocked by time Ukraine filed Application  Procedural preconditions satisfied. * The Court has jurisdiction to entertain Ukraine’s claims under CERD. * * Objection by the Russian Federation to admissibility of Ukraine’s Application with regard to claims under CERD  Contention that Application inadmissible because local remedies not exhausted before dispute referred to the Court  When a State brings claim on behalf of its nationals customary international law requires previous exhaustion of local remedies  Ukraine challenges alleged pattern of conduct of the Russian Federation with regard to treatment of Crimean Tatar and Ukrainian communities in Crimea  Rule of exhaustion of local remedies not applicable in circumstances of present case  Objection to admissibility of Ukraine’s Application with regard to CERD rejected. * *