On 06-02-2024, Justice Nawaf Salam (Lebanon) along with Justice Julia Sebutinde (Uganda) were elected as President and Vice-President of International Court of Justice by their peers, for a term of three years1.
Justice Nawaf Salam was born in Beirut, Lebanon, on 15-12-1953 and has an extensive experience in law with primary fields of practice in general litigation; public and private international law; international transactions. He was a member of the Beirut Bar Association: counsel and representative for various international and domestic, public and private entities in Beirut, Lebanon (1984-1989 and 1992-2007), and in Boston, USA (1989-1992).
Justice Salam also has extensive diplomatic experience as Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York. He also represented Lebanon in the Security Council of the United Nations in 2010 and 2011, for its two-year term as a non-permanent member, and assumed the Presidency of the Council in May 2010 and September 2011.
Justice Salam has been a Member of the ICJ since 6-02-2018. and prior to joining the Court, he was the Ambassador and Permanent Representative of Lebanon to the United Nations in New York from July 2007 to December 2017.
Justice Julia Sebutinde was born in Entebbe, Uganda, on 28-02-1954. Her expansive legal resume includes Judgeship of the Special Court for Sierra Leone (SCSL) (2005-2011); Presiding Judge of Trial Chamber II of the SCSL (2007-2008, 2010-2011), handling several high profile war crime trials including the Prosecutor v. Charles Ghankay Taylor; Judgeship of the High Court of Uganda with original and appellate jurisdiction in civil and criminal cases (1996-2011); Chairperson, Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Corruption in the Uganda Police Force (1999-2000); Chairperson, Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Mismanagement in the Uganda People’s Defence Forces (2001); Chairperson, Judicial Commission of Inquiry into Corruption in the Uganda Revenue Authority (URA) (2002); Chairperson, Technology Planning Committee of the Uganda Judiciary (1998- 2002); Legislative Consultant seconded by the Commonwealth Secretariat to the Republic of Namibia responsible for amendment and replacement of the country’s apartheid laws and training of Namibian legislative drafters (1991- 1996) to name a few.
Justice Sebutinde has been a Member of the ICJ since 6-02-2012. Before joining the Court, Vice-President Sebutinde was a judge at the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2005 to 2011.
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