Who Is Phoebe Okowa? Meet Kenyan elected to International Court of Justice for 9-year term

Kenyan law professor Phoebe Nyawade Okowa has secured a full nine-year term as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), extending her place on the United Nations' principal judicial organ until 2036.

Okowa was elected on Tuesday, November 3, after obtaining the required majority in separate ballots conducted by the UN General Assembly and Security Council.

She received 183 votes in the General Assembly and 13 in the 15-member Security Council.

Her election followed several rounds of voting and diplomatic efforts to consolidate support for her candidature, including the withdrawal of Sierra Leone's Prof Charles Jalloh, who had also been contesting the position.

Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing'Oei congratulated Okowa, saying her election reflected the confidence of the international community in her ability to serve the court.

He also thanked members of the General Assembly and Security Council for their support, as well as Sierra Leone, South Korea and Ecuador for withdrawing their candidates after the third round, helping avoid a prolonged electoral process.

Okowa will serve alongside newly elected judges from the United Kingdom, France, Singapore and Jordan, who also secured positions in the latest election.

Born in Kericho, Kenya, Okowa built her legal career through academic training in Kenya and the United Kingdom.

She graduated from the University of Nairobi in 1987 with a Bachelor of Laws degree, earning First Class Honours.

Phoebe was the first woman in the university's Faculty of Law to achieve the distinction.

She subsequently obtained a Bachelor of Civil Law degree from Wadham College, University of Oxford, in 1990 before completing a doctorate in law at the same institution in 1994.

Her doctoral research was supervised by Professor Sir Ian Brownlie, a leading scholar of public international law.

Okowa was admitted to the Kenyan Bar in 1990 and later moved into legal academia, taking up her first academic appointment at the University of Bristol in 1993.

She subsequently joined Queen Mary University of London, where she became Professor of Public International Law.

Phoebe was awarded an honorary Doctor of Laws degree by Stockholm University in 2024.

Beyond her academic career, Okowa has advised governments and non-governmental organisations on complex questions of public international law and has appeared as counsel in proceedings before international courts and tribunals.

Her areas of expertise include state responsibility, international environmental law, the use of force and accountability for international crimes.

The ICJ judge's published works include State Responsibility for Transboundary Air Pollution in International Law, published by Oxford University Press in 2000, and Environmental Law and Justice in Context, which she co-edited with Jonas Ebbesson.

In 2016, Phoebe became a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration in The Hague, serving until 2022.

In 2021, she was elected to the United Nations International Law Commission, becoming the first African woman to serve on the body since its establishment in 1947.

The commission works on the progressive development and codification of international law.

Okowa first joined the ICJ in November 2025 after being elected to fill a vacancy left by Judge Abdulqawi Ahmed Yusuf of Somalia, who resigned from the court.

The election made her the first Kenyan and the eighth woman to serve on the 15-member bench.

She was initially elected to serve only the remainder of Yusuf's term, which was due to expire on February 5, 2027.

Her latest election gives her a full nine-year mandate, beginning on February 6, 2027.

The ICJ, based in The Hague, Netherlands, settles legal disputes submitted by states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised United Nations organs and specialised agencies.

Its judges are elected independently by the UN General Assembly and Security Council, with candidates required to secure an absolute majority in both bodies.