South African Professor Dire Tladi, 48, was elected on Thursday as one of the new judges of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), becoming the first South African to serve in this capacity.
The professor is an expert in international law, teaching at the University of Pretoria. He is also a member of the International Law Commission and serves as its Special Rapporteur on Peremptory Norms of General International Law. Prior to this, he held positions as the Legal Adviser for the South African Mission in New York and as a Special Adviser to the South African Foreign Minister.
Following the voting process carried out by the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council, the South African was selected alongside with four other candidates from around the world.
According to the procedure, no more than one judge of each nationality can serve on the Court at the same time. The elected judges will take up their new positions at the Court in February 2024.
The ICJ, which is one of the six principal organs of the United Nations (UN) and known as the World court, is composed of 15 judges that are elected for a nine-year period.
The court's objective is to settle legal disputes between states parties and give advisory opinions to the UN, as well as its specialized agencies. It is open to all states that are parties to its statute, which automatically includes all member states of the UN.