Julia Sebutinde

**Julia Sebutinde** (dem born am 28 February 1954) be Ugandan jurist. She currently dey serve ein second term for de International Court of Justice (ICJ) following ein re-election for 12 November 2020 top. She sanso be de current chancellor of Muteesa I Royal University, a university wey de Buganda kingdom own am. She be judge for de court top since March 2012. She be de first African woman to sit for de ICJ top. Before dem elect am to de ICJ, Sebutinde be judge of de *Special Court for Sierra Leone*. Dem appoint am to dat position for 2007 insyd.  

For 6 February 2024 top, dem elect Julia Sebutinde Vice-President of de International Court of Justice. For 14 January 2025 top, she becam de acting president upon president Nawaf Salam ein resignation in accordance plus de acting line of succession until Yuji Iwasawa ein election as president for 3 March 2025 top. 

## Ein background
Dem born Sebutinde for February 1954 insyd for Kampala, Uganda insyd, to a civil servant den housewife plus de Semambo surname. She go de Lake Victoria Primary School insyd Entebbe for de 1960s insyd. She then join Gayaza High School den later King's College Budo, before e enter Makerere University to study law. Sebutinde graduate plus a Bachelor of Laws for 1977 insyd. She obtain de Diploma for Legal Practice insyd from de Law Development Center insyd Kampala for 1978 insyd. For 1990 insyd, she enroll at de Edinburgh Law School, University of Edinburgh give ein Master of Laws, wey e graduate for 1991 insyd. For 2009 insyd, in recognition of ein body of work den contribution to international justice, dem award am an honorary Doctor of Laws by de University of Edinburgh. 

## Ein career

### For Africa insyd
Julia Sebutinde first work for de Ministry of Justice insyd for de Government of Uganda insyd from 1978 until 1990. After e graduate from de University of Edinburgh for 1991 insyd, she work for de Ministry of de Commonwealth insyd for de United Kingdom insyd. She later join de Ministry of Justice for de Republic of Namibia insyd, wey dem just attain Independence at dat time. For 1996, dem appoint am *Judge of the High Court* of Uganda. For dat capacity insyd, she preside ova three commissions of inquiry wey relate to de following government departments:    

* Corruption for de Uganda Police insyd
* Corruption for de *Uganda People's Defence Force* insyd
* Corruption for de Uganda Revenue Authority insyd 

### At de Special Court give Sierra Leone
For 2005 insyd, dem appoint Julia Sebutinde, plus secondment from de Ugandan government, to de Special Court give Sierra Leone, wey de United Nations establish am. Dem later appoint am de Presiding Judge for Courtroom II insyd, at dat time responsible give hearing de case against former Liberian president, Charles Taylor. For dat position insyd she refuse to attend a disciplinary hearing against Taylor ein lawyer. 

### At de International Court of Justice
For de 2011 International Court of Justice judges election, Sebutinde be one of eight candidates give five vacant judicial seats for de International Court of Justice top, wey de national groups of Croatia, Denmark, den Uganda nominate am for de Permanent Court of Arbitration insyd. For de election insyd, a successful candidate dey need an absolute majority of votes both for de United Nations General Assembly insyd den for de United Nations Security Council insyd. For de first day of voting insyd, dem elect four candidates but dem no fill de fifth position. Wen voting adjourn, Abdul Koroma, de incumbent from Sierra Leone, receive 9 votes out of 15 for de Security Council insyd, plus 8 votes needed to elect. Ova for de General Assembly insyd, after dem vote five rounds, Julia Sebutinde, de contender, receive 97 votes out of 193, plus 97 votes needed to elect. Wen balloting resumed for 13 December 2011 top, Sebutinde receive an absolute majority of votes for both de Security Council den de General Assembly, den thus dem declare elected.

Dem elect am give a second term at de ICJ for March 2021 insyd.

Sebutinde be one of de 17 judges wey dey rule for provisional measures top for *South Africa's genocide case against Israel* insyd. She vote against all de provisional measures, den be de only permanent judge to vote against any of de measures. Ein dissenting opinion conclude dat de dispute for question insyd be essentially political rada dan legal, den der be no plausible basis give finding genocidal intent for de part of Israel top.

De Ugandan Ministry of Foreign Affairs subsequently release a statement dat it support South Africa ein position den dat Sebutinde ein vote "*does not in any way, reflect the position of the Government of the Republic of Uganda*". 

#### Plagiarism controversy
Dem accuse am of plagiarizing large parts of ein dissenting opinion from pro-Israel sources, as well as plagiarism from Wikipedia den de BBC. According to political scientist Norman Finkelstein, "*at least 32 percent of Sebutinde’s dissent was plagiarised*", wey dey include from writings from Douglas Feith.

De plagiarism dey include multiple sentences dat be identical plus de column, *The Forgotten History of the Term "Palestine"*, by Douglas Feith, such as "*In 135 CE, after stamping out the second Jewish insurrection of the province of Judea or Judah, the Romans renamed that province 'Syria Palaestina' (or Palestinian Syria). The Romans did this as a punishment, to spite the 'Y’hudim' (Jewish population) and to obliterate the link between them and their province (known in Hebrew as Y’hudah).*", wey dey appear almost identical to Feith ein writing. Furthermore, Sebutinde sanso write "*When the distinguished Arab American historian, Professor Philip Hitti, testified against the Partition of Mandatory Palestine before the Anglo-American Committee in 1946, he remarked: 'There is no such thing as ‘Palestine’ in history; absolutely not.*' ", a sentence dat be almost identical to a page from de Jewish Virtual Library. Oda sources dat Sebutinde allegedly plagiarize from dey  include a PragerU video from conservative activist David Brog, de Wikipedia page for de Yom Kippur War, a written statement from de International Association of Jewish Lawyers, a statement from Fiji ein submission to de ICJ, den a 2016 paper by Abraham Bell den Eugene Kontorovich, de latter of whom "*was gratified to see that the dissenting opinion by Judge Sebutinde at the ICJ made significant use of [their] argument*". 

#### Pro-Israel Bias
For August 2025 insyd, according to an article for de Daily Monitor insyd, she declare at de Watoto Church dat "*the Lord is counting on me to stand on the side of Israel*", share ein "*strong conviction that we are in the [[:en:Eschatology|End Times]]*" prophesied for de Bible insyd, den state ein will "t*o be on the right side of History*". Sebutinde no contradict dis report so far.

For 25 August 2025 top, de International Commission of Jurists send a communication to de president of de International Court of Justice Yuji Iwasawa, den urge am to remove Judge Sebutinde due to ein partiality den pro-Israel bias. De International Commission of Jurists request dat de Court "*undertake remedial actions consistent with Principles 17-20 of the UN Basic Principles. In the interim, I would request that you act to immediately remove Vice-President Sebutinde from participating further in proceedings in the South Africa v. Israel case*." 

## Oda posts
Justice Sebutinde hold de position of Chancellor of de International Health Sciences University, for Kampala insyd, from 2008 to 2017. 

## Ein life matter
Julia Sebutinde marry John Bagunywa Sebutinde; dem get two daughters.

Sebutinde credit Pastor Gary Skinner of de Pentecostal Watoto Church give having instilled den nurtured for ein value of *"integrity, honesty, Justice, mercy, empathy, and hard work*". Like Skinner, Sebutinde be Christian Zionist.  

## References


## External links

*  Julia Semambo Sebutinde Gets Edinburgh Doctorate
* Justice Sebutinde Nears World Court Job