Five jurists elected judges of International Court of Justice

A conference officer shows a ballot box during an UN Security Council meeting to elect judges of the International Court of Justice, at the UN Headquarters in New York, on Nov. 9, 2023. (Manuel Elias/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)

UNITED NATIONS, Nov. 9 (Xinhua) -- Five jurists were elected on Thursday by the Security Council and the General Assembly as judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) to replace five outgoing judges.

The elected include Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu of Romania, Hilary Charlesworth of Australia, Sarah Hull Cleveland of the United States, Juan Manuel Gomez Robledo Verduzco of Mexico, and Dire Tladi of South Africa.

They will serve a nine-year term of office beginning on Feb. 6, 2024.

Among the five, Charlesworth of Australia was re-elected.

Kirill Gevorgian of Russia, who also sought re-election, failed in his bid.

This year, there were nine candidates for five positions. Apart from Gevorgian of Russia, three other contenders - Chaloka Beyani of Zambia, Ahmed Amin Fathalla of Egypt, and Antoine Kesia-Mbe Mindua of the Democratic Republic of the Congo - failed to obtain enough votes.

Under the Statute of the International Court of Justice, the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, the election of ICJ judges is through secret balloting at the Security Council and the General Assembly. A candidate has to obtain absolute majority in both chambers to get elected. Voting in the two chambers must be held concurrently but separately.

This year, the General Assembly obtained a conclusive result in its first round of voting. The Security Council, however, had to run five rounds to get a conclusive result, which mirrors the voting result of the General Assembly.

The Hague-based ICJ has 15 judges elected to nine-year terms of office. To ensure a degree of continuity, five judges are elected every three years. Judges are eligible for re-election. Should a judge die or resign during his or her term of office, a special election is held to choose a judge to fill the unexpired part of the term.

The 15 judges must come from 15 different countries. The court as a whole must represent the main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world.

A delegate casts her ballot during a UN General Assembly election of judges for the International Court of Justice (ICJ), at the UN headquarters in New York, on Nov. 9, 2023. (Loey Felipe/UN Photo/Handout via Xinhua)