Judges Elect New ICTY President

Jamaican judge Patrick Robinson has been elected as the next president of the International Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, ICTY, in The Hague.



He was voted in on November 4 by the tribunal’s ten permanent judges at an extraordinary plenary session.



Robinson, 64, joined the tribunal in 1998 after 16 years as Jamaica’s representative to the UN general assembly. He will replace the existing president, Italian judge Fausto Pocar, who has held the position since 2005. Pocar will continue to serve as an appeals judge until the tribunal’s scheduled closure at the end of 2010.



Also elected this week was Judge O-Gon Kwon of South Korea, who will take up the position of vice-president, replacing the incumbent Kevin Parker. Kwon, who is a graduate of both Seoul National University and Harvard Law School, has served at the tribunal since 2001.



Both judges will take up their positions on November 17.



Simon Jennings is an IWPR reporter in The Hague.