Port of Spain – A High Court judge from Trinidad and Tobago – Justice Althea Alexis-Windsor has been elected to the International Criminal Court (ICC) for 2021-2030.
She was one of six judges elected after eight rounds of voting which began on December 18, to fill six vacancies at the court.
Alexis-Windsor who was elected in the eighth round with 86 of the 118 votes, surpassed her rival from Tunisia, Haykel Ben Mahfoudh.
Judges who are nominated to the ICC have experience either litigating or adjudicating cases before the International Criminal Tribunals and the ICC itself.
Alexis-Windsor, who was appointed a judge of the local Supreme Court in 2013, previously served as trial and appeals counsel at the International Criminal Tribunal for Rwanda from 2004-2013.
She was also a senior state counsel at the Office of the Director of Public Prosecutions and was deputy director of the human rights unit at the Office of the Attorney General.
The newly-elected judges will fill the vacancies of the six outgoing judges and will begin their nine-year terms on March 10, 2021.
Alexis-Windsor was nominated by the twin island republic’s permanent mission to the United Nations in April.
Her nomination was also endorsed by the Caribbean Community (CARICOM).
In a questionnaire published on the ICC’s website on the nominees, Alexis-Windsor said she believed she had a contribution to make in international law.
“I have an abiding desire to see the legal system provide catharsis for witnesses and victims and to be a part of the mandate of the ICC to erode impunity for breaches of international criminal law,” she said. (CMC)
