The International Court of Justice (ICJ) has elected Japanese judge Yuji Iwasawa as its new president following the resignation of his predecessor, Nawaf Salam, in January.
Iwasawa will serve as president until February 5, 2027, completing Salam’s term.
Salam resigned after being appointed as Lebanon’s prime minister by President Joseph Aoun.
Before joining the ICJ, Iwasawa was a professor of international law at the University of Tokyo and had chaired the United Nations Human Rights Committee. He has been serving as a judge on the ICJ since June 2018.
Iwasawa becomes the second Japanese judge to hold the position of ICJ president. The ICJ, established in 1945, is the UN’s principal judicial organ, based in The Hague, Netherlands.
It consists of 15 judges, elected for nine-year terms, and is tasked with settling legal disputes between states and providing advisory opinions on legal matters referred by UN entities.
