Judge Nawaf Salam, originating from Lebanon, has been appointed as the President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Judge Salam will hold the position of ICJ President for a three-year tenure, taking over from Judge Joan E Donoghue (United States of America), who assumed the role on February 8, 2021.
Simultaneously, Judge Julia Sebutinde, representing Uganda, has been chosen as the Vice-President of the ICJ, also serving a three-year term.
The ICJ communicated these updates via press releases issued on Wednesday, February 6.
Judge Salam has served as a Member of the ICJ since February 6, 2018. Prior to his tenure at the Court, he held the position of Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York from July 2007 to December 2017.
Judge Sebutinde has been a Member of the ICJ since February 6, 2012. Before her appointment to the Court, she served as a judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2005 to 2011.
Remarkably, Judge Sebutinde gained recent attention for delivering a dissenting opinion in the case brought by South Africa before the ICJ, accusing Israel of violating the Genocide Convention in the Gaza Strip.
In the ruling issued on January 26, the majority of the ICJ bench decided to extend provisional measures to safeguard the rights of Palestinians in the Gaza Strip, asserting that there was a “plausible” indication that Israel was breaching their rights under the Prevention of Genocide Convention.
Nevertheless, Judge Sebutinde expressed the view that the Israel-Palestine conflict requires a diplomatic or negotiated resolution, emphasizing that it does not fall within the jurisdiction of the Court to settle legal disputes.
Furthermore, the Judge concluded that South Africa had not established, even on a prima facie basis, that Israel’s alleged actions exhibited “genocidal intent,” thus indicating that provisional measures were not justified by the court.
The Judge went on to term South Africa’s case a “desperate bid” to force a case into the context of a treaty to foster its judicial settlement.
