For the first time in 77 years, a Russian representative failed to be elected to the International Court of Justice
This clearly reflects the true level of support for Russia in the UN
Russia's representative, Judge Kirill Gevorgyan, failed to be re-elected to the International Court of Justice, which was established in 1945 to resolve legal disputes between states and give opinions on legal issues for the organization. This will be the first time in almost 80 years of the UN's existence that a Russian will lose his seat in the main judicial body.
Source. This was reported by press.un.org.
Gevorgyan, who has worked at the UN court since 2015 and became its vice-president in 2021, received only 77 votes at the UN General Assembly, ranking penultimate among all candidates and ahead of only the representative of the Congo.
Starting in February 2024, Gevorgyan's seat on the board will be taken by Romanian representative Bogdan Aurescu, a former foreign minister of the republic. He received 117 votes.
It will not be the first time in history that there will be a Soviet or Russian judge on the ICJ: the candidate from Russia received 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, experts say.
The failure to elect a Russian judge has not only symbolic but also real consequences: Russia will not have a guaranteed voice in cases against it.
Two such cases have been initiated by Ukraine against Russia. In one of the lawsuits, filed shortly after the invasion began, Kyiv claims that Moscow used a "distorted notion of genocide" as a pretext for starting the war.
More than 30 countries joined the lawsuit, and the court began hearing the case in September 2023.
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