Kenyan lawyer Phoebe Okowa was elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Wednesday, to fill the seat vacated by Abdulqawi Yusuf of Somalia, who resigned on September 30.
Okowa will serve for the remainder of Abdulqawi Yusuf’s term, which ends on February 5, 2027.
She is a lawyer and professor of public international law at Queen Mary University of London. Since 2023, she has also been a member of the UN International Law Commission.
Under the ICJ’s constitution, judges are elected by secret ballot by both the Security Council and the UN General Assembly.
Four candidates ran for the position, and Okowa won in three rounds of voting in the Security Council and four rounds in the General Assembly.
The ICJ, based in The Hague, consists of 15 judges elected for nine-year terms, with the right to re-election. If a judge dies or resigns during his or her term, a special election is held to fill the remainder of that term.
The 15 judges must come from 15 different countries, with the court broadly representing the major traditions and legal systems of the world.
Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, a native of Somalia, previously served as President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) from February 2018 to February 2021.
