Lebanese Judge Nawaf Salam. (Credit: AFP/Archives)
BEIRUT — Judge Nawaf Salam, of Lebanese-origin, was elected as President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) on Tuesday for a three-year term.
He follows American Judge Joan E. Donoghue, who was president from 2021 until Feb. 5, 2024. Donoghue led the court when it mandated provisional measures against Israel on Jan. 26, demanding the country report to the court one month after the issued order, to demonstrate steps taken to prevent genocide in Gaza.
Nawaf Salam has been a member of the ICJ since Feb. 6, 2018, and will now hold the position of president of the court starting from Feb. 6, 2024, according to the ICJ website.
Born in 1953 into a prominent political family in Beirut, the former diplomat, academic, and jurist was among the seventeen judges at the ICJ tasked with issuing the order following South Africa's genocide allegations against Israel, filed with the court in late December.
Nawaf Salam initially devoted his career to research and teaching at the Sorbonne, then at Harvard and the American University of Beirut between the late 1970s and the early 2000s. He also served as Lebanon's ambassador to the United Nations from 2007 to 2017. He has been repeatedly considered as a possible Prime Minister since 2019. He is also the author of several works, including "Le Liban d’hier à demain" (Sindbad/Actes Sud, 2021).