APA-Pretoria (South Africa) South African professor of international law, Dire Tladi has joined the International Court of Justice (ICJ) as the country’s first-ever justice to be employed at the UN body which seats at The Hague in The Netherlands.
The swearing-in ceremony on Tuesday followed his election to the permanent position by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council last November alongside three other jurists.
The other new members of the court are Bogdan-Lucian Aurescu from Romania, Sarah Hull Cleveland from the United States and Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco from Mexico.
The new members’ nine-year terms of office began on the same day they were sworn into office, according to the ICJ.
President Cyril Ramaphosa described Tladi’s election last year as an outstanding personal achievement that the nation shared with great pride.
The president said he appreciated the confidence expressed by the United Nations in Tladi’s capabilities.
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the UN and one of the six principal bodies of the intergovernmental organisation.
The court’s role is to settle, per international law, legal disputes submitted to it by states and to give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to it by authorised UN organs and specialised agencies.
NM/jn/APA