Phoebe Okowa has been Elected as a Member of the International Court of Justice.

The General Assembly and the Security Council of the United Nations have elected, Ms Phoebe Okowa as a Member of the International Court of Justice, with immediate effect, on 12th November, 2025.

Of Kenyan nationality, Ms Phoebe Okowa succeeds Judge Abdulqawi A. Yusuf, who resigned as a Member of the Court with effect from 30th September 2025, which was duly notified on 11 June, 2025.

Pursuant to Article 15 of the Statute of the Court, Ms Phoebe Okowa will hold office for the

remainder of her predecessor’s term, which was due to expire on 5 February 2027.

Following the election held on 12th November, 2025 by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, the composition of the Court is as follows:

President: Iwasawa Yuji (Japan)

Vice-President: Julia Sebutinde (Uganda)

Judges – 

Peter Tomka (Slovakia); Ronny Abraham (France); Xue Hanqin (China); Dalveer Bhandari (India); Georg Nolte (Germany); Hilary Charlesworth (Australia); Leonardo Nemer Caldeira Brant (Brazil);

Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo (Mexico); Sarah H. Cleveland (United States of America); Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu (Romania); Dire Tladi (South Africa); Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud (Jordan); Phoebe Okowa (Kenya)

Submission of Candidacies –

All States parties to the Statute of the Court (currently 193) have the right to propose candidates. However, candidates are not nominated directly by governments but by the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA) or, in the case of States not participating in the PCA, by similarly constituted national groups. The PCA, which is based in The Hague, was established under the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Each State party to those Conventions has its own national group, that is to say, a group of up to four jurists who can be called upon to serve as members of an arbitral tribunal under the Conventions. When an election takes place to fill vacancies at the International Court of Justice, each national group can propose up to four candidates, not more than two of whom may be of its own nationality. The others may be from any other country. The names of candidates must be communicated to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.

Election procedure –

Members of the Court are elected by the General Assembly and by the Security Council through parallel procedures. Both organs vote at the same time but independently of one another. This system is intended to ensure, as far as possible, that the vote in one organ does not influence the vote in the other. In order to be elected, a candidate must obtain an absolute majority of votes both in the General Assembly and in the Security Council. Currently, 97 votes out of 193 constitute an absolute majority in the General Assembly. In the Security Council, where no right of veto applies for the purposes of the election and no distinction is made between the votes of the permanent and non-permanent members of the Council, eight votes out of fifteen constitute an absolute majority.

Team Maverick