Xue Hanqin, Vice President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), has been reelected to the top UN judicial panel. The newly elected ICJ judges will serve for nine years, beginning on February 6 next year.
Xue was first elected to the ICJ in June 2010 and reelected in November 2011. She has been vice president of the 15-member court since February 2018. She is the first woman from China to serve on the bench, and the first female vice president of the court.
The ICJ, which is based in The Hague, the Netherlands, and began its operations in 1946, is the UN's principal judicial organ. The court's role is to settle legal disputes submitted to it by states and give advisory opinions on legal questions referred to by UN bodies such as the General Assembly and the Security Council.
