Kenya’s Phoebe Okowa elected to International Court of Justice

The UN has elected five judges to the International Court of Justice, including Kenya’s Phoebe Okowa, who has secured a full nine-year term starting in February 2027.

Okowa won 183 votes in the General Assembly and 13 in the Security Council. She is a professor of public international law at Queen Mary University of London and has served on the UN’s International Law Commission since 2021.

The other elected judges are Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, François Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Rena Lee of Singapore.

The International Court of Justice, based in The Hague, settles legal disputes between states and issues advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised

Based in The Hague, the Court comprises 15 judges serving nine-year terms, with five seats coming up for election every three years.

No two judges may be nationals of the same State.

Candidates must secure an absolute majority in both the 193-member Assembly and the 15-member Council, which vote independently by secret ballot.

The veto does not apply, and multiple rounds of voting may be necessary.

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