NAIROBI, Kenya May 12 \u2013 Kenya has intensified diplomatic efforts to secure a position at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with President William Ruto taking a leading role in lobbying support for former Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndung\u2019u during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi.<\/p>\n
During bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit, President Ruto formally introduced Justice Njoki to visiting world leaders, presenting her as Kenya\u2019s candidate for election to the ICC bench.<\/p>\n
Among the leaders engaged by the Kenyan Head of State was Emmanuel Macron of France, whom Ruto welcomed at State House Nairobi on Sunday evening before highlighting Kenya\u2019s push for representation at the Hague-based court.<\/p>\n
The campaign also extended to West African leaders, including Alassane Ouattara of C\u00f4te d\u2019Ivoire, Joseph Boakai of Liberia and Julius Maada Bio of Sierra Leone, as Kenya seeks to consolidate backing ahead of the ICC elections.<\/p>\n
Officials familiar with the diplomatic outreach say Nairobi is positioning Justice Njoki as one of Africa\u2019s most experienced and distinguished jurists, citing her long judicial career and contribution to constitutional reforms.<\/p>\n
Justice Njoki served as one of the inaugural judges of Kenya\u2019s Supreme Court following the adoption of the 2010 Constitution and spent more than ten years at the country\u2019s highest court, where she contributed to major rulings on constitutional governance and criminal justice.<\/p>\n
She is also credited with spearheading Kenya\u2019s landmark Sexual Offences Act, legislation that significantly strengthened protections for survivors of sexual and gender-based violence.<\/p>\n
Beyond Kenya\u2019s borders, Justice Njoki participated in shaping the African Union\u2019s Maputo Protocol, a continental treaty focused on advancing and protecting women\u2019s rights across Africa.<\/p>\n
Supporters of her candidacy argue that her legal expertise, human rights advocacy and judicial experience make her a strong contender for the ICC, which handles cases involving genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes.<\/p>\n
Kenya\u2019s diplomatic push comes at a strategic moment, with the Africa Forward Summit bringing together a large number of presidents, diplomats and international decision-makers in Nairobi, offering the country a rare platform to directly lobby influential voting states.<\/p>\n
For Nairobi, the bid is viewed as both a diplomatic milestone and an opportunity to elevate one of Kenya\u2019s most prominent legal figures onto the global judicial stage.<\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
NAIROBI, Kenya May 12 \u2013 Kenya has intensified diplomatic efforts to secure a position at the International Criminal Court (ICC), with President William Ruto taking a leading role in lobbying support for former Supreme Court Judge Njoki Ndung\u2019u during the Africa Forward Summit in Nairobi. During bilateral meetings held on the sidelines of the summit, […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":0,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_dont_email_post_to_subs":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-140699","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","entry"],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack-related-posts":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140699","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=140699"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/140699\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=140699"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=140699"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/chezaspin.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=140699"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}