Jiaotong chair professor elected to UN court

A chair professor at Xi'an Jiaotong University in Xi'an, the capital of Shaanxi province, has been elected as a judge of the International Court of Justice, China Daily learned on Wednesday.

James Crawford, an honorary director of the Silk Road International Law and Comparative Law Institute under the university and chair professor of the Changjiang Scholars Program, a national-level initiative established by the Ministry of Education, is a leading authority on international law. He has given lectures at the university since 2013 and was invited to become an honorary director in July 2014.

Crawford was elected as a judge of the ICJ on Nov 6 through polls held simultaneously by the UN General Assembly and the UN Security Council. The election named four judges who will start work with the ICJ from Feb 6.

The ICJ was established in February 1946 and is headquartered in the Hague, Netherlands. It is one of the principal organs of the United Nations and also its primary judicial organ. The court has 15 judges elected by the UN General Assembly and UN Security Council, who serve nine-year terms.