Declaration on the Advancement of Women for the Position of Judges at the International Court of Justice: proposed elements

Overview

Since its establishment in 1946, and as of November 2025, only seven women in total have ever served as judges at the International Court of Justice: Dame Rosalyn Higgins (United Kingdom), Xue Hanqin (China), Julia Sebutinde (Uganda), Hilary Charlesworth (Australia), Joan E. Donoghue (United States of America), Sarah H. Cleveland (United States of America), and Phoebe N. Okowa (Kenya).

This small cohort reflects a pronounced geographical concentration. Of the five United Nations Regional Groups - African Group, Asia-Pacific Group, Eastern-European Group, Latin American and Caribbean Group, and Western and Other States Group - women judges have thus far come only from three: the African Group (Kenya, Uganda), the Western and Other States Group (Australia, United States, United Kingdom), and the Asia-Pacific Group (China). To date, no woman has been elected from either the Eastern European Group or the Latin American and Caribbean Group, underscoring a dual gap in gender and regional representation at the apex of the international judicial system.

Neither the United Nations Charter nor the Statute of the International Court of Justice contains a binding obligation to achieve gender parity on the Court. The Statute emphasizes individual merit, high moral character, and the representation of the “main forms of civilization and the principal legal systems of the world,” but it does not include gender among the formal criteria for representativeness. Reopening the Charter or the Statute to introduce such an obligation is widely regarded within the UN membership, as well as the ICJ, as politically impractical and institutionally risky. Charter amendment processes invite broad renegotiation across unrelated policy areas, raising the likelihood that carefully balanced provisions could be diluted or destabilized in the course of geopolitical bargaining. For this reason, both Member States and the Court itself have traditionally favored evolutionary, practice-based approaches over formal treaty revision.

Within this diplomatic culture, political declarations have emerged as a recognized and effective tool for shaping State practice without creating binding legal obligations. Member State-led initiatives - such as the Declaration on Promoting the Jurisdiction of the International Court of Justice (advanced by Japan, Liechtenstein, Mexico, the Netherlands, New Zealand, Norway, Poland, Romania, Spain, Switzerland) and the Political Statement on the Suspension of the Veto in Cases of Mass Atrocities (advanced by France and Mexico) -demonstrate how voluntary, open-for-endorsement instruments can build cross-regional coalitions, generate political momentum, and influence behavior within existing legal frameworks.

The proposed Declaration on Advancing Women for the Position of Judges at the International Court of Justice follows this established pathway, seeking to address structural gender imbalance through coordinated political commitment rather than formal legal amendment. It is of the hope of the author that the Declaration could be advanced by a UN Member State or a group of States, or perhaps serve as an inspiring model of action for the wider UN membership.

The Declaration is designed to operate at the point in the process where influence is greatest: nomination, as well as to encourage a gender-balanced approach in the election process at the United Nations General Assembly and Security Council levels.

In terms of nomination, candidates are not nominated directly by governments, but by National Groups of the Permanent Court of Arbitration (PCA), or by ad hoc national groups constituted for States that are not members of the PCA.

Once nominations are received, elections are conducted concurrently but independently by the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council. In both organs, candidates must secure an absolute majority of members, and only those who obtain the required support in both bodies are elected to the Court.

This dual-track mechanism means that success depends not only on legal qualifications, but also on early, coordinated, and cross-regional political engagement. By encouraging National Groups and Member States to identify, nominate, and actively support highly qualified women candidates from the outset, the Declaration seeks to shape outcomes before electoral dynamics in New York become determinative.

This initiative is particularly timely. The next elections for ICJ judges will take place in November 2026, during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly, for the term 2027 to 2036.

Key Findings

1. Severe historical underrepresentation: Since the ICJ’s establishment in 1946, only seven women have served as judges. The most recent appointment is Judge Phoebe N. Okowa of Kenya, elected in November 2025.
2. Regional imbalance persists: Women judges have come only from the African Group, the Western and Other States Group, and the Asia-Pacific Group. No woman has yet been elected from the Eastern European Group or the Latin American and Caribbean Group, revealing a compounded gap in both gender and regional representation.
3. No need for Charter amendment: Neither the UN Charter nor the Statute of the ICJ mandates gender parity. However, the Declaration demonstrates that meaningful progress can be achieved within the existing legal framework through coordinated political commitments, avoiding the risks associated with reopening foundational treaties.
4. Nomination is the key leverage point: The process is driven upstream by PCA National Groups, not by direct governmental nomination. Without gender-conscious practices at this stage, downstream elections in the General Assembly and Security Council have limited capacity to correct imbalances in the candidate pool.
5. Inclusive pathways already exist and must be used: Not all UN Member States maintain formal National Groups at the PCA. This does not prevent nomination. Article 4(2) of the Statute of the ICJ provides for the establishment of ad hoc National Groups for this purpose, ensuring that all States can nominate and advance candidates, including qualified women. The Declaration’s encouragement to use the mechanism of article 4 (2) of the Statute of the International Court of Justice also solves the matter of geographical underrepresentation of women from across the five UN regional groups.
6. Dual-majority elections heighten the need for coordination: Because judges must be elected by absolute majorities in both the General Assembly and the Security Council, successful candidacies depend on early, cross-regional political engagement rather than last-stage campaigning.
7. Political declarations can shape State practice: Precedents within the UN system show that voluntary, open-for-endorsement instruments can build coalitions, normalize new standards of conduct, and influence institutional behavior without creating formal legal obligations.
8. Strategic timing matters: With the November 2026 elections approaching, the current nomination cycle presents a rare opportunity to embed gender parity considerations into National Group consultations and State-level decision-making before candidate lists are finalized.
9. Parity strengthens legitimacy: Advancing women to the ICJ bench is closely linked to broader goals of institutional legitimacy, representativeness, and confidence in the international rule of law, particularly in a period of heightened geopolitical polarization and challenges to multilateral institutions.