Professor Marcelo Kohen has been nominated to complete the term of the late Judge Antônio Cançado Trindade at the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the principal judicial organ of the United Nations. The special election will take place on 4 November 2022 at the United Nations General Assembly and the Security Council simultaneously. Professor Kohen’s nomination has been supported by renowned international legal personalities, judges, and professors from across the world.

Professor Kohen has taught at the Geneva Graduate Institute for twenty-seven years. He was one of the founding members of the Geneva LL.M. in International Dispute Settlement (MIDS). He has supervised around forty doctoral theses and hundreds of master theses of Institute students. He is also an alumnus of the Institute, having completed his PhD in 1995, mentored by Honorary Professors Georges Abi-Saab and Lucius Caflisch.
In 2015, Professor Kohen was elected Secretary-General of the Institut de Droit International (re-elected in 2021), the world’s oldest professional organisation of international law, which is based at the Institute.

With his activity of more than thirty years, Professor Kohen has contributed to the renown of our Institute and to the promotion of International Geneva. He has acted as advocate and counsel before the ICJ and the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea. He has served as arbitrator in more than a dozen international investment tribunals. He has been Rapporteur of the Council of Europe, the International Law Association and the Institut de Droit International on matters of succession or jurisdictional immunity of States.

Professor Kohen is the author of more than one hundred publications in French, English and Spanish in the field of International Law, including his book Possession contestée et souveraineté territoriale (Adverse Possession and Territorial Sovereignty), published in the Graduate Institute’s collection of Presses universitaires de France an awarded the Paul Guggenheim Prize in 1997. In addition, he has been visiting professor at various European universities and member of the editorial boards or advisers of several international law journals. He is regularly quoted and interviewed in Swiss media for his analysis and insight on international law and politics.

More information about his candidacy can be found on the following website.