PROFESSOR YUJI IWASAWA ELECTED JUDGE OF THE INTERNATIONAL COURT OF JUSTICE
A by-election to fill a vacancy in the International Court of Justice caused by the resignation of Judge Hisashi OWADA took place at the United Nations Headquarters in New York on 22 June 2018. Professor Yuji IWASAWA, professor of international law at the Graduate Schools for Law and Politics of the University of Tokyo, who had been nominated as a candidate by forty-two national groups of the Permanent Court of Arbitration, was duly elected at the election.
Professor IWASAWA is the fourth Japanese judge on the International Court of Justice following Judges Kotaro TANAKA, Shigeru ODA and Hisashi OWADA, and the second judge elected from professors at our Graduate Schools after Judge TANAKA.
The successful election of Professor IWASAWA demonstrates that his academic achievements in international law as well as rich professional experiences as a practitioner such as the Chairperson of the United Nations Human Rights Committee and the Vice-President of the Asian Development Bank Administrative Tribunal were valued highly at the international level.
We wish Professor IWASAWA success on the International Court of Justice.
Comments by Professor IWASAWA:
The importance of the International Court of Justice is growing today, as the “principal judicial organ” of the United Nations and the leading international court given the task to peacefully settle disputes in the international society.
While I believe in the promotion of the rule of law in the international society, I am convinced that the principle serves the interests of Japan and the world. As a person who received legal education and later taught law at the Faculty of Law in the University of Tokyo, I will do my best in the promotion of the rule of law in the international society.