For the first time in 77 years, including USSR, representative of russia was unable to appeal to UN International Court of Justice

For the first time in almost 80 years of the existence of the United Nations, a representative of the terrorist country of russia will lose his seat in its main judicial instance. Judge Kirill Gevorgyan failed to be re-elected to the UN International Court of Justice, which was established in 1945 to resolve legal disputes between states and provide legal opinions for the organization.

Gevorgyan, who has worked at the UN court since 2015 and became its vice-chairman in 2021, received only 77 votes at the UN General Assembly, taking the penultimate place among all candidates and surpassing only the representative of the Congo in terms of support. Gevorgyan's place in the collegium will be taken from February 2024 by the representative of Romania, Bogdan Aurescu, the former minister of foreign affairs of the republic. He won 117 votes.

"For the first time in history, there will not be a Soviet or russian judge in the International Court of Justice: the candidate from the russian federation won a minority of votes in both voting bodies (the Security Council and the General Assembly), and this clearly reflects the true level of support for russia in the UN," notes international lawyer Serhii Holubok.

He emphasizes that not electing a russian judge has not only symbolic, but also real consequences: russia will not have a guaranteed voice in the cases against it.

"Supporting candidates for the International Court of Justice is not an empty resolution," Holubok said. "This is the main judicial body that has many pending cases."

Two such cases were initiated by Ukraine against russia. In one of the lawsuits filed shortly after the start of the war, official Kyiv claims that Moscow used the "distorted concept of genocide" as a pretext for starting the war. More than 30 countries joined the lawsuit, the court began considering the case in September 2023.

The UN International Court of Justice, which has been operating since 1946, is located in the Peace Palace in The Hague and consists of 15 judges whose term of office is nine years. Five new judges are elected every three years. Each judge represents a regional group of countries.

Up for a November 10 vote were five vacancies on the court when the term expires in February 2024. Only the representative of Australia Hilary Charlesworth was able to be re-elected. In addition to Aurescu from Romania, the three new judges are Sarah Hull Cleveland from the USA, Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco from Mexico and Dire Tladi from South Africa. They will start work on February 6.

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