UNSC, UNGA elect Australian Professor Charlesworth to serve as ICJ Judge

The UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly on Friday elected Hillary Charlesworth from Australia to serve as a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), Mexico's Ambassador to the United Nations Juan Ramon de la Fuente said.

"Miss Hilary Charlesworth received the required majority both in the Security Council and in the General Assembly. She is therefore duly elected as a member of the International Court of Justice for a term beginning today, the 5th of November 2021, and ending on the 5th of February 2024," de la Fuente, who presides with the UN Security Council in November, said.

Charlesworth will replace James Crawford of Australia who died in May after an illness and served on the court from February 2015.

The election of judges to the 15-member ICJ is held at both the UN Security Council and the UN General Assembly to nine-year terms. To be elected, a candidate must receive an absolute majority of the votes at both bodies.

Charlesworth, 66, is a Professor of Law at Melbourne Law School and a Distinguished Professor at the Australian National University. She was also appointed as an ad hoc ICJ judge in the 2011 Whaling in the Antarctic case concerning Japan and Australia.

Charlesworth was running for the ICJ seat against Greek judge Linos-Alexandre Sicilianos. (ANI/Sputnik)

( With inputs from ANI )