Phoebe Okowa: Who is the Kenyan elected as judge at the International Court of Justice?
Kenya’s Phoebe Okowa has been elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
The announcement was made on the night of Wednesday, November 12, 2025, when Foreign Affairs Principal Secretary Korir Sing’oei confirmed that Okowa was elected by both the United Nations General Assembly (UNGA) and the UN Security Council after four rounds of voting. This makes her one of the few Africans to hold this prestigious position.
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“After four rounds of voting, Prof Phoebe Okowa has been duly elected by both the UNGA and UN Security Council, a judge of the International Court of Justice @CIJ_ICJ, defeating three other candidates,” Sing’oei stated.
Who is Phoebe Okowa?
Okowa is a lawyer and professor of Public International Law. She serves as the Director of Graduate Studies at Queen Mary University of London. In 2021, she was elected to the International Law Commission for a five-year term starting January 1, 2023, becoming the first African woman to serve on the Commission.
She has also been a member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague since 2016, appointed by Kenya. As an advocate of the High Court of Kenya, she has represented governments and non-governmental organisations on matters of international law before both domestic and international courts, including the ICJ.
Kenya nominated her for the UN International Law Commission in May 2021. She was co-nominated by the United Kingdom and endorsed by the African Union. In the United Nations General Assembly vote, she received 162 votes. The ILC is composed of 34 experts who help develop and codify international law, and its members must be recognised authorities in international law.
Early life and education
Okowa was born in Kericho on January 1, 1965. She graduated at the top of her class with a Bachelor of Laws (LLB) with First Class Honours from the University of Nairobi in 1987, becoming the first woman to achieve this in the faculty’s history. She was called to the Kenyan Bar in 1990.
She then attended Wadham College, Oxford, on a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship, earning a 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.
Okowa’s election to the ICJ marks a historic milestone for Kenya and Africa. Her extensive experience in public international law and her prior work with the ILC and Permanent Court of Arbitration position her as a key figure in shaping the future of international law.
