UNGA, UNSC elect 5 judges to International Court of Justice; new term to begin from Feb 6

The United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council on Thursday, November 12 elected five judges to serve at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a term of nine-year, UN General Assembly President Volkan Bozkir declared after the completion of the vote count. All the five candidates have obtained an absolute majority in both bodies i.e UN General Assembly and Security Council, Bozkir said.

The New term to commence from February 6

"The following five candidates have obtained an absolute majority in both bodies (UN General Assembly, Security Council): It was Yuji Iwasawa (Japan), Georg Nolte (Germany), Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), Peter Tomka (Slovakia) and Xue Hanqin (China). They are therefore duly elected members of the International Court of Justice to serve for a nine-year term commencing February 6, 2021," Bozkir said.

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Functions of ICJ

The International Court of Justice holds the responsibility in rectifying the legal disputes between UN member states and is composed of 15 judges elected to nine-year terms by a vote held independently at the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly.  ICJ is one of the UN's six principal organs and its election is held every three years for five seats with no bar on consecutive terms. During this year's election, eight candidates, four of which are current ICJ members, were contesting the five positions. Meanwhile, German jurist Nolte will serve his first term at the ICJ. The other candidates who run for the election were Taoheed Olufemi Elias from Nigeria, Emmanuel Ugirashebuja from Rwanda and Maja Sersic from Croatia. 

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(With ANI inputs) (Image-ANI)