Wednesday 14 December 2011

Ugandan elected to International Court of Justice


Publish Date: Dec 14, 2011
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By Taddeo Bwambale
A Ugandan judge, Justice Julia Sebutinde has been elected as the fifth judge of the UN International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Sebutinde beat competition from Sierra Leonean judge Abdul G. Koroma to the prestigious position on Tuesday, following a tight contest decided by both the UN General Assembly and the Security Council.
She will join four other candidates elected on November 10, to serve a nine-year term of service which starts on February 6, 2012.  The other judges are: Hisashi Owada (Japan), Xue Hanqin (China), Peter Tomka (Slovakia) and Giorgio Gaja (Italy).
The seat for the fifth judge, however, had remained vacant since neither Karoma nor Sebutinde managed to obtain an absolute majority after seven rounds of voting.
Sebutinde has been a presiding judge of Trial Chamber 2 at the Special Court for Sierra Leone, while Koroma is currently a Judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
During the previous rounds of voting, the Council repeatedly elected Koroma and while the Assembly endorsed Sebutinde.
According to a statement from the UN, Sebutinde acquired the absolute majority in both organs to take the seat on the Court, having garnered nine votes in the Council and the majority of ballots in the Assembly, after 12 rounds of voting.
“The General Assembly today elected Julia Sebutinde of Uganda to a much-contested seat on the International Court of Justice, ending a weeks-long stalemate between the Assembly and the Security Council,” read a statement from the UN website.
Sebutinde has chaired three high-level commissions investigating allegations of corruption in the Uganda Police Force, the Ministry of Defence and the Uganda Revenue Authority, respectively. In 2005 she was seconded to the United Nations-backed Special Court for Sierra Leone, where she was appointed the Presiding Judge in the trial of Charles Taylor, former President of Liberia.
Sebutinde graduated in 1977 from Makerere University in Uganda and joined the Ministry of Justice, where she rose to the level of Principal State Attorney/Principal Legislative Counsel.  She also worked at the Commonwealth Secretariat in London and at the Ministry of Justice of Namibia.  In 1996 she was appointed Judge of the High Court of Uganda.
Located in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations.  It adjudicates between States and its legal opinions are binding.  The Court also issues advisory opinions when requested to do so.
It consists of 15 judges elected by the Council and the Assembly, who vote independently and are chosen on the basis of their qualifications and moral standing.  Each of the judges serves a nine-year term and may be re-elected, but cannot engage in any other occupation during the term of office. One third of the Court is elected every three years to ensure a measure of continuity.

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