No Russian judge elected to UN’s top court, in first

For the first time in history, a representative of the Russian Federation was not elected to the UN International Court of Justice.

The UN elected five members to the International Court of Justice for the next nine years, according to an Ukrinform correspondent in The Hague.

Bogdan Aurescu (Romania), Sarah Hull Cleveland (USA), Juan Robledo (Mexico), Hilary Charlesworth (Australia) and Dire Tladi (South Africa) were elected to the international court following the UN Security Council vote. The same candidates received the required number of votes in the UN General Assembly.

According to the procedure, the elections of members of the International Court of Justice take place simultaneously and independently of each other in the General Assembly and the Security Council.

"The UN has begun to cleanse itself of Russia’s malicious influence. For the first time in UN history, its member states denied Russia the right to administer justice on their behalf in the International Court of Justice. The world sees who destroys international law instead of protecting it. Congratulations to representatives of Australia, Mexico, Romania, South Africa, and the U.S. for winning votes for ICJ in both UNSC and UNGA," President Volodymyr Zelensky of Ukraine wrote on X (formerly Twitter).

The International Court of Justice was founded in 1946 and is one of the six main bodies of the UN. The competence of the court, which sits in The Hague, includes the resolution of disputes between states and issuing advisory opinions to the bodies of the international organization.

It consists of 15 judges, while its composition shall not include two citizens of the same state. Members of the court are elected for a period of nine years and can be re-elected, taking into account, however, that the term of office of five judges of the ICJ’s first composition expires in three years, and the term of office of another five judges – in six years.