General Information - Judges
Judges

The Tribunal is composed of 21 independent members elected by secret ballot by the States Parties to the Convention. Each State Party may nominate up to two candidates from among persons enjoying the highest reputation for fairness and integrity and of recognized competence in the field of the law of the sea.

No two members may be nationals of the same State and in the Tribunal as a whole it is necessary to assure the representation of the principal legal systems of the world and equitable geographical distribution; there shall be no fewer than three members from each geographical group as established by the General Assembly of the United Nations (African States, Asian States, Eastern European States, Latin American and Caribbean States and Western European and Other States). Members are elected for nine years and may be re-elected; the terms of one third of the members expire every three years.

The current composition of the Tribunal is as follows:

  Name (Order of precedence) Country Date of expiry of
term of office
President Rüdiger Wolfrum Germany 30 September 2008
Vice-President Joseph Akl Lebanon 30 September 2008
Judges Hugo Caminos Argentina 30 September 2011
  Vicente Marotta Rangel Brazil 30 September 2008
  Alexander Yankov Bulgaria 30 September 2011
  Anatoly Lazarevich Kolodkin Russian Federation 30 September 2008
  Choon-Ho Park Republic of Korea 30 September 2014
  Paul Bamela Engo Cameroon 30 September 2008
  L. Dolliver M. Nelson Grenada 30 September 2014
  P. Chandrasekhara Rao India 30 September 2008
  Tullio Treves Italy 30 September 2011
  Tafsir Malick Ndiaye Senegal 30 September 2011
  José Luis Jesus Cape Verde 30 September 2008
  Jean-Pierre Cot France 30 September 2011
  Anthony Amos Lucky Trinidad and Tobago 30 September 2011
  Stanislav Pawlak Poland 30 September 2014
  Shunji Yanai Japan 30 September 2014
  Helmut Tuerk Austria 30 September 2014
  James Kateka United Republic of Tanzania 30 September 2014
  Albert Hoffmann South Africa 30 September 2014
Zhiguo Gao China 30 September 2011

Apart from those currently serving as judges, the following have been members of the Tribunal
(the names of deceased judges are preceded by an asterisk).

Name Country Period of office
Joseph Sinde Warioba United Republic of Tanzania 1996–1999
* Lihai Zhao China 1996–2000
* Edward Arthur Laing Belize 1996–2001
Gudmundur Eiriksson Iceland 1996–2002
* Lennox Fitzroy Ballah Trinidad and Tobago 2002–2003
Soji Yamamoto Japan 1996–2005
Thomas A. Mensah Ghana 1996–2005
David Anderson United Kingdom 1996–2005
Budislav Vukas Croatia 1996–2005
Mohamed Mouldi Marsit Tunisia 1996–2005
Guangjian Xu China 2001–2007