Prof Phoebe Okowa Becomes Kenya’s First Female Judge of the International Court of Justice

Kenya’s Prof Phoebe Okowa has been elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), becoming Kenya’s first femal judge of the court marking another milestone in the country’s growing profile within the United Nations system. Okowa, who currently serves as a member of the International Law Commission, was elected Wednesday evening after a tightly contested race in both the UN General Assembly (UNGA) and the UN Security Council (UNSC). By the end of the third voting exercise, Professor Phoebe Okowa from Kenya gained 104 votes, followed by Charles Cherno Jalloh from Sierra Leone with 61 votes and Taoheed Olufemi Elias from Nigeria, who garnered 23 votes. President of the Security Council, Michael Imran Kanu, informed UN General Assembly President Annalena Baerbock that Professor Okowa secured the required votes to fill a seat that became vacant on September 30, 2025. Kenya nominated Professor Okowa for election as an ICJ judge on February 27, 2025, through its Permanent Mission to the United Nations in New York. The nomination was registered with the Permanent Court of Arbitration and circulated to the UN Mission of Djibouti, which coordinates Eastern Africa’s representation at the UN. The ICJ, often referred to as the “World Court,” is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations, tasked with settling legal disputes between states and giving advisory opinions on legal questions referred by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies. Okowa, who teaches international law at the University of London’s Queen Mary College, is widely recognised for her expertise in international environmental law, state responsibility, and dispute settlement. She has advised various governments and international organisations on complex transboundary and humanitarian legal matters. Her election was celebrated across Kenya’s diplomatic circles and academia as a victory not only for the country but also for Africa and women in international justice. With her assumption of office, Kenya strengthens its visibility in the global legal landscape and reaffirms its long-standing commitment to multilateralism and the rule of law. Okowa will be sworn in at The Hague in early 2026 and will serve until February 5, 2027. In 2021, she was elected to the International Law Commission for a period of five years, starting January 1, 2023, becoming the first African woman to serve as a member of the Commission. In 2016, she was appointed a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague by Kenya. An advocate of the High Court of Kenya, she has acted as counsel and consultant to governments and non-governmental organisations on questions of international law before domestic and international courts including the ICJ. Okowa was born in Kericho on January 1, 1965. She graduated at the top of her class with a Bachelor of Law (LLB) with First Class Honours from the University of Nairobi in 1987. Okowa was the first woman to be awarded a first-class honours degree in the history of the Faculty of Law of the University of Nairobi. She was called to the Kenyan Bar as an advocate in 1990. Okowa then studied at Wadham College, Oxford, on a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship, obtaining the degree of Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) in 1990. She completed her doctoral thesis (D.Phil.) at Oxford in 1994 under the supervision of Professor Sir Ian Brownlie, the Chichele Professor of International Law.