Singapore’s Ambassador-at-large and Ambassador for International Law Rena Lee has been elected a judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for a nine-year term starting on 6 February next year.
Based in The Hague in the Netherlands, the ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). It comprises 15 judges who serve nine-year terms. Elections are held every three years for five seats.
Voting for the 2027–2036 term took place at the UN headquarters in New York at 11pm on Tuesday (3 November), Singapore time. Lee was elected in the first round with a high vote count.
Sanita Pavļuta-Deslandes, the rotating president of the UN Security Council, announced the first-round results at about 12.30am on Wednesday (4 November), Singapore time, confirming that four candidates had secured the required majority to be elected.
Singapore’s candidate Lee, 57, and France’s candidate François Alabrune each received 13 votes, the joint-highest tally.
The other two candidates elected were the UK’s Dapo Akande and Jordan’s Mahmoud Daifallah Hmoud, who received 11 and ten votes respectively.
The UN Security Council subsequently began a second round of voting to elect one more ICJ judge.
Ten candidates from Africa, Asia, Europe and Latin America contested this election.
However, according to information released on Monday (2 November) by Security Council Report, an independent organisation that tracks UN Security Council affairs, Nigeria’s candidate has withdrawn, leaving nine candidates in the running.
Singapore’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs (MFA) and Ministry of Law (MinLaw) said in a joint statement on Tuesday that Vivian Balakrishnan and Edwin Tong hosted a reception in support of Lee’s candidature on Monday evening in New York, which was the morning of 3 November in Singapore.
On 14 October 2024, MFA and MinLaw announced that Singapore’s National Group to the Permanent Court of Arbitration intended to nominate Ambassador Lee for election to the ICJ for the next term. She was officially nominated as Singapore’s candidate in July this year.
According to the statement, Ambassador Lee is a distinguished international law practitioner with over three decades of deep expertise across a broad spectrum of international law, including the law of the sea, environmental law, international humanitarian law, and human rights law.
She served as president of the UN Intergovernmental Conference on Marine Biodiversity of Areas Beyond National Jurisdiction (BBNJ), steering five years of complex, high-stakes multilateral negotiations that ultimately secured consensus for the adoption of the landmark BBNJ Agreement in 2023.
“This major achievement is testament to her ability to combine deep legal expertise with sensitivity to diverse perspectives, which allows her to bridge differences among nations with different legal traditions and geopolitical interests.”
Lee also holds appointments at the Permanent Court of Arbitration and on the Panel of Conciliators of the International Centre for Settlement of Investment Disputes, among others.
The statement said Lee’s high standing in the international legal community, integrity, impartiality and commitment to upholding a rules-based international order make her well suited to serve as an ICJ judge.
“If elected, she would be well-placed to contribute constructively to the functioning of the ICJ and the advancement of international law.”
Balakrishnan: Singapore must do its part as multilateral institutions face growing strain
Balakrishnan said in the statement that the Singaporean government fully supports Ambassador Rena Lee’s candidature to be an ICJ judge. Her deep expertise, strong conviction in the rule of law, and ability to understand different perspectives in resolving differences would be an asset to the ICJ.
“As a small state, Singapore has always been a stalwart advocate and defender of the rule of law, which underpins the international rules-based system. We have been a beneficiary of this system since our independence. It is precisely at a time when multilateral institutions are under growing strain that we must do our part to support and strengthen them.”
Tong, who is also Second Minister for Home Affairs, said Lee understands international law not only as doctrine, but as a framework within which states must make decisions, manage differences and cooperate.
“She brings intellectual independence, sound judgment and an appreciation of the practical consequences of legal reasoning.”
He noted that, as the ICJ is a universal institution, its strength is enhanced when its bench draws on varied legal traditions, professional experiences and perspectives, with each judge exercising independent judgment.
“Ambassador Lee embodies the kind of contribution Singapore seeks to make: principled, practical, attentive to different perspectives and directed towards solutions.”
