Kenya has taken a significant step on the global stage by nominating Prof Phoebe Okowa for election as a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ). The election is scheduled to take place during the 81st session of the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council in 2026.
The nomination was officially communicated by Kenya’s Permanent Mission in a letter dated February 27, addressed to Djibouti, the coordinator of the Eastern African Sub-region on candidatures. Kenya is now seeking regional backing, having formally requested Djibouti to circulate the nomination within the African Group to garner broad support.
Prof Okowa, a distinguished legal scholar, is a professor of Public International Law and the Director of Graduate Studies at Queen Mary University of London. She has built an illustrious career in international law and governance. In 2021, she made history as the first African woman elected to the International Law Commission (ILC), where she serves a five-year term starting from January 1, 2023.
Her legal expertise has been widely recognized, having been appointed a Member of the Permanent Court of Arbitration at The Hague by Kenya in 2016. Okowa has acted as counsel and consultant to governments and non-governmental organizations on international legal matters, including cases before the ICJ. Her nomination to the ICJ reinforces Kenya’s commitment to strengthening its global legal presence and diplomacy.
Prof Okowa was born in Kericho on January 1, 1965. She excelled academically, graduating top of her class with a First-Class Honours degree in Law from the University of Nairobi in 1987—the first woman in the faculty’s history to achieve such a distinction. She was called to the Kenyan Bar in 1990 before furthering her studies at Oxford University on a Foreign and Commonwealth Office Scholarship. She earned her Bachelor of Civil Law (BCL) in 1990 and later completed her doctoral thesis under the supervision of renowned scholar Prof Sir Ian Brownlie in 1994.
Her nomination to the ICJ comes shortly after Kenya’s bid for the African Union Commission chairperson seat, in which Raila Odinga lost to Djibouti’s Mohamoud Youssuf. If elected, Prof Okowa will enhance Kenya’s influence in shaping global legal frameworks.
