ICJ Campaign Season Begins

It’s ICJ selection season with five of the 15 ICJ seats open for replacement. New Zealand is fast out of the box, as this article suggests, by sending its candidate on a global tour to drum up support. Of course, this is very early because, as I understand it, the selection won’t be made until the fall of 2006 with the new judges seated in February 2007. (Update: I’ve been corrected by a knowledgeable source that tells me the new judges will be selected this fall and seated in February 2006).

The ICJ selection process is not exactly high-profile, but it is prestigious enough so that countries like New Zealand are willing to pony up to get their judges appointed. It will be interesting to see which countries will push to get their judges appointed and how much effort they will put into this process.