Phoebe Okowa and the World Court: how the UN elects ICJ judges, and what is at stake for Kenya
Kenyan law professor Phoebe Okowa, already a judge at the International Court of Justice, is one of nine candidates for five seats in a UN vote on 3 November. She needs majorities in both the General Assembly and the Security Council. Here is how it works.
- Okowa was co-nominated by groups from 25 countries, a record for an African candidate; result expected tonight.
On Tuesday 3 November 2026, the UN General Assembly and Security Council vote at the same time to elect five judges to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UN's top court in The Hague. Kenya's Phoebe Okowa is one of nine candidates.
Who is Phoebe Okowa?
A Kenyan international law scholar and professor, she joined the ICJ in November 2025, elected to finish the term of Somalia's Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf, who resigned. That term ends on 5 February 2027. She is now seeking a full nine-year term.
How the vote works
| Rule | What it means |
|---|---|
| Two bodies vote at once | The General Assembly (193 countries) and the Security Council (15 members) vote separately |
| Majority in both | A candidate needs at least 97 General Assembly votes and 8 Security Council votes |
| If results differ | Voting continues, round after round, until both bodies agree on the same five |
| Still stuck? | After three meetings, a joint conference of six members (three from each body) can step in |
| Term | Nine years, starting 6 February 2027 |
In 2023, a similar race of nine candidates for five seats took five rounds in the Security Council, so a result may not come quickly.
The nine candidates
Phoebe Okowa (Kenya), Dapo Akande (UK), François Alabrune (France), Mahmoud Daifallah (Jordan), Luz del Carranza (Peru), Charles Chernor (Sierra Leone), Rena Lee (Singapore), Jin-Hyun Paik (South Korea) and Marcelo Vázquez-Bermúdez (Ecuador). Okowa and Daifallah are the two sitting judges seeking re-election.
What the ICJ does
- It settles disputes between countries and gives advisory opinions on legal questions asked by UN bodies.
- It has 15 judges, no two from the same country. There are no fixed regional seats, but the court is meant to reflect the world's main legal systems. It currently has three African judges.
- Its workload is growing: about a fifth of all cases since 1945 were filed in the past decade, including cases linked to Gaza, Myanmar and Ukraine.
Why it matters for Kenya
Kenya does not "own" the seat; ICJ judges serve independently, not as their country's representatives. But a full term would keep a Kenyan voice on the world's highest court for nearly a decade, and reflects well on Kenyan legal training. Kenya also knows the court well: it was the venue for the Kenya–Somalia maritime boundary case.
