Kenya's Phoebe Okowa elected to the International Court of Justice
The international law professor secured a full nine-year term beginning in February 2027.
The United Nations has elected the Kenyan jurist Phoebe Okowa to a full nine-year term as a judge of the International Court of Justice, beginning in February 2027.
Professor Okowa received 183 votes in the General Assembly and 13 in the Security Council. She is professor of public international law at Queen Mary University of London and has served on the UN International Law Commission since 2021. She was first elected to the Court in November 2025 to complete the remainder of the term of Judge Abdulqawi Yusuf of Somalia.
Four other judges were elected in the same round: Dapo Akande of the United Kingdom, François Alabrune of France, Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan and Rena Lee of Singapore.
The Court, which sits in The Hague, settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on questions referred to it by authorised UN organs and agencies. It comprises 15 judges, no two of whom may be nationals of the same state. Five seats fall vacant every three years, and candidates must obtain an absolute majority in both the 193-member General Assembly and the 15-member Security Council, which vote independently by secret ballot.