New York, US - The UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council Tuesday elected a Ugandan jurist to fill the final vacancy on the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the UN. PANA reported that Ms. Julia Sebutinde obtained an absolute majority in both the Assembly and the Council, a requirement for successful candidates, during voting at UN headquarters in New York. Sebutinde obtained 97 votes in the Assembly, compared to 93 for rival candidate Abdul Koroma of Sierra Leone, while in the Council, she obtained nine votes and Koroma received six.

The new judge will serve a nine-year term on the ICJ, also known as the World Court, starting from 5 February, 2012.

She joins Italy’s Giorgio Gaja, Hisashi Owada of Japan, Slovakian Peter Tomka and China’s Xue Hanqin, who were all elected early in November during the first round of simultaneous voting in the Assembly and Council.

PANA recalled that the Assembly and Council had been deadlocked on the final vacancy, with Sebutinde obtaining a majority in the Assembly, while Koroma got a majority in the Council during previous rounds of voting.

The judges are chosen on the basis of their qualifications, not their nationality but no two judges can come from the same country.

Also, effort was taken to ensure that the principal legal systems of the world are reflected in the composition of the court.

Established in 1945 and based in The Hague, Netherlands, the ICJ settles legal disputes between states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions that have been referred to it by other authorized UN organs.

Pana 14/12/2011