Julia Sebutinde
Julia Sebutinde (jurist) | ||||||||||
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Born | 28 February 1954 | |||||||||
Alma mater | Makerere University, University of Edinburgh | |||||||||
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Julia Sebutinde is a Ugandan jurist who was elected Vice-President of the International Court of Justice on 6 February 2024. She is in her second term on the ICJ following her re-election on 12 November 2020. She has been a Judge in the court since March 2012, and is the first African woman to sit on the ICJ.
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Dissenting voice at the ICJ
Julia Sebutinde was one of the 17 Judges ruling on provisional measures in the case Application of the Convention on the Prevention and Punishment of the Crime of Genocide in the Gaza Strip (South Africa v. Israel). She voted against all the provisional measures, and was the only permanent judge to vote against any of the measures. Her dissenting opinion concluded that the dispute in question was essentially political rather than legal, and there was no plausible basis for finding genocidal intent on the part of Israel.[1] The Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently released a statement that it supported South Africa's position and that Sebutinde's vote "does not in any way, reflect the position of the Government of the Republic of Uganda.[2]
Genocide is a legal issue
Canadian Mark Kersten, an assistant professor specialising in human rights law, told Al Jazeera that genocide is a legal issue, not a political dispute, and both South Africa and Israel are bound by the Genocide Convention.[3]
Judging Sierra Leone
Before being elected to the ICJ, Sebutinde was a Judge of the Special Court for Sierra Leone from 2007 to 2011.
References
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