Ozaki to sit on international court

BRUSSELS (Kyodo) Former career diplomat Kuniko Ozaki was elected Wednesday as a judge on the International Criminal Court.

Ozaki, 53, is currently a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies in Tokyo and a special assistant to the Foreign Ministry.

Established in July 2002 in The Hague, 18-judge panel is the first-ever permanent international criminal court to prosecute and punish individuals for crimes such as genocide in accordance with international law.

Ozaki joined the Foreign Ministry in 1979 after graduating from the University of Tokyo. She served as director of the treaty affairs division of the Vienna-based U.N. Office on Drugs and Crime from 2006 to earlier this year.

Since April she has conducted research on international, humanitarian, human rights and international organization law as a professor at the National Graduate Institute for Policy Studies.

The ICC held a by-election to fill two vacancies. Fumiko Saiga, its first Japanese judge, died in April, and Mohamed Shahabuddeen from Guyana resigned in February.