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STUDENTS & CAMPUS
19 July 2024

Three Institute Students Selected for Judicial Fellowship at the International Court of Justice

Three Geneva Graduate Institute students have been selected for the prestigious fellowship programme at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) for 2024-2025. Nominated by the Institute, Ph.D. candidate in International Law and teaching assistant at the Geneva Academy of International Humanitarian Law and Human Rights, Ash Stanley-Ryan will represent the Institute. Nominated by their undergraduate universities but current master students at the Institute, Sandra Bucha, Master in International Law, and Bianca Isabella Ortiz, LLM in International Dispute Settlement, will make it so that three of the year's fifteen Judicial Fellows are Institute students, though Bucha will be representing Strathmore University and Ortiz will be representing the University of the Philippines. 

Established in 1999, the Judicial Fellowship at the ICJ allows recent law graduates to gain professional experience at the judicial organ of the United Nations (UN). The fellowship welcomes fifteen fellows per year, nominated by their respective universities around the world. 

Supervised by Professor Nico Krisch, Ash Stanley-Ryan's PhD research focuses on how the Secretariat of the United Nations has helped shape the international law of peace and security. Beginning with the first draft of the Genocide Convention and ending with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court, he argues that the Secretariat should be seen as an active participant in international legal processes, and that its efforts to shape the law of peace and security have also had flow-on effects — helping to shape, for example, the law of treaty reservations. His research relies heavily on archival materials and travaux préparatoires.

As a Judicial Fellow, Ash Stanley-Ryan will work with H.E. Judge Georg Nolte, who was elected in February 2021 for a nine-year term and previously served on the International Law Commission, as well as the Institute’s Foundation Board. Under Judge Nolte, Stanley-Ryan will conduct research and draft memorandums on questions of law or fact relating to cases pending before the Court, attend hearings and sittings, and more.

Being selected for the Judicial Fellowship Programme is a privilege and an honour. The process is highly competitive; only fifteen Fellows are chosen each year from around the world. I am only the second New Zealander to have ever been selected, and (I believe) also the second Fellow ever to have been supported by the Graduate Institute. Many of the previous Fellows have gone on to become leading figures in international law practice and scholarship. 

Being selected as a Fellow means I have the opportunity to assist the Court in its work, resolving the most complex of legal disputes and providing clarity on unsettled questions of international law. This work is essential to the maintenance of international peace and security. I hope, during my time supporting Judge Nolte in discharging this duty, to deepen my own knowledge of international law and to continue building a career that traverses both academia and practice.

In addition to working at the Geneva Academy, Ash Stanley-Ryan has previously worked with the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights (OHCHR), and the New Zealand Ministry of Foreign Affairs and Trade. He completed his undergraduate law and international relations degrees at Te Herenga Waka, Victoria University of Wellington. Prior to his PhD, he also completed an LLM summa cum laude from the Institute and was one of the two centenary recipients of the prestigious diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law. 

I believe being selected also speaks to the quality of education in both the LLM and PhD (international law) programmes at the Graduate Institute; these gave me a solid basis in international law. They also contributed to my being one of only two people to receive the prestigious diploma of the Hague Academy of International Law at its centenary last year.

In addition to Ash Stanley-Ryan who was nominated by the Institute, Institute master students Sandra Bucha (Master in International Law) and Bianca Isabella Ortiz (LLM in International Dispute Settlement) have also been named Judicial Fellows for 2024-2025, nominated by their undergraduate universities, Strathmore University and the University of the Philippines, whom they will be representing.

Sandra Bucha was nominated  by her alma mater, Strathmore University. She will be working with Judge Julia Sebutinde. Her research "centres on the concept of the nation-state, particularly in the Global South where the concept still struggles to take root. I am particularly keen on the tensions inherent between the state and its peoples when it comes to implementation of group rights, especially the right to development and self-determination."

On her nomination, Sandra Bucha says, 

It is quite an honour. I was nominated by my alma mater, Strathmore University, and I am the university’s first nominee to be selected for the Programme in addition to being only the second Kenyan. I think the Programme will greatly help with my research on the state and exploration of what justice for a state looks like, as opposed to justice for individuals or groups of individuals which I am more familiar with. Additionally, I am looking forward to having a better understanding of the practical aspects of public international law, and the complementary issues that come up when implementing the law in the current global order.

Bianca Isabella Ortiz was nominated by her alma mater, the University of the Philippines, and will be working with Judge Hilary Charlesworth. 

During the MIDS programme, Bianca's coursework focused on international arbitration and state-vs-state dispute settlement. In particular, she found the procedural rules and issues of the ICJ as garnering special attention. Her LL.M. thesis focused on international arbitration involving international organizations and private parties and its human rights implications. 
 
Regarding her nomination, Bianca Isabella Ortiz states: 
 

I am very thrilled to be representing my alma mater, the University of the Philippines, at the ICJ as it is the first time a Philippine university's nominee is participating in the Fellowship Programme. Furthermore, I am only the second Filipino in history to be selected as a Judicial Fellow. Because of my academic background gained during the MIDS, I feel prepared to be able to participate and contribute meaningfully during the fellowship.