By Tareq Yousef Alshumaimry
Observer of the Executive Council at the International Court of Justice and former International Court of Justice
In a joint election held today, 27 May 2025, the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council elected Mr. Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud of Jordan as a Member of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), The Hague. the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. His appointment is effective immediately.
Mr. Hamoud, a Jordanian national, succeeds Judge Nawaf Salam, who resigned on 14 January 2025. In accordance with Article 15 of the Statute of the Court, Mr. Mahmoud Daifallah Hamoud will hold office for the remainder of Judge Nawaf Salam’s term, which was scheduled to expire on 5 February 2027.
The International Court of Justice is composed of 15 judges, each elected for a term of nine years and eligible for re-election.
According to the Court’s Statute, and to ensure the continuity of the Court’s composition, the tenure of one-third of its members is renewed every three years.
According to Article 2 of the Court’s Statute, judges are elected “irrespective of their nationality from among persons of high moral character, possessing the qualifications required in their respective countries for appointment to the highest judicial offices, or from among jurists of recognized competence in international law.”
Article 9 of the Statute also states that “the representation of the principal civilizations and of the principal legal systems of the world shall be ensured on the Body as a whole.”
No two members of the Court may be of the same nationality.
Following elections by the United Nations General Assembly and the 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), Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf (Somalia), 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 (USA), Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu (Romania), Dire Tladi (South Africa), Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud (Jordan)
The nominations are open to all States Parties to the Court’s Statute (currently 193). However, candidates are not nominated directly by governments, but by 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 Permanent Court of Arbitration, based in The Hague, was established by the Hague Conventions of 1899 and 1907. Each state party to these conventions has its own national group, and each group includes up to four jurists who may be called upon to serve as members of the arbitral tribunal under the conventions.
In elections to fill vacancies in the International Court of Justice, each national group may propose up to four candidates, no more than two of whom must be of its own nationality.
The others may be from any other state. The names of the candidates must be communicated to the Secretary-General of the United Nations.
Election Procedure: The members of the Court are elected by the General Assembly and the Security Council through parallel procedures. Both bodies vote simultaneously but independently of each other.
This system aims to ensure, as far as possible, that a vote in one organ does not affect the vote in the other. To be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of votes in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. Currently.
The International Court of Justice is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. It was established under the Charter of the United Nations in June 1945 and began its activities in April 1946.
The Court consists of 15 judges elected for nine-year terms by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. The seat of the Court is located at the Peace Palace in The Hague (Netherlands).
The Court has a dual role — First, to settle legal disputes referred to it by states in accordance with international law; and second, to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by duly authorized organs and agencies of the United Nations system.
This election completes the number of judges of the International Court of Justice with the addition of Judge Mahmoud Daifallah Hamoud.
