On behalf of the Government of Mexico, its Permanent Mission to the United Nations presented to the Permanent Court of Arbitration the Mexican National Group's nomination of Dr. Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco as a candidate for judge of the International Court of Justice (ICJ).
Five individuals will be elected to serve as ICJ judges for the 2024-2033 period at the 78th session of the UN General Assembly in November 2023.
In accordance with the ICJ Statute, the national groups in the Permanent Court of Arbitration nominate jurists who are well known for their knowledge of international law. Two former Foreign Secretaries, Luis Padilla Nervo and Bernardo Sepúlveda Amor, have served as ICJ judges.
Juan Manuel Gómez Robledo Verduzco holds a PhD in Law from UNAM, and a bachelor's degree and two master's degrees from the Université de Paris I (Panthéon-Sorbonne), Paris X (Nanterre) and the Institut d'Études Politiques de Paris (Sciences Po), respectively.
He has been a member of the Mexican Foreign Service since 1988 and was promoted to ambassador in 2001. He has held various positions in the Foreign Ministry, such as private secretary to the Foreign Secretary (1994), legal advisor (2000-2004) and Undersecretary for Multilateral Affairs and Human Rights (2007-2015).
He has also been Deputy Permanent Representative to the Organization of American States (OAS) (1998-2001) and to the United Nations (2004-2007). He is currently serving as Deputy Permanent Representative to the United Nations for the second time.
He has acted as Mexico's agent before the International Court of Justice in the Avena and Other Mexican Nationals case (Mexico v. United States of America) and before the Inter-American Court of Human Rights in various contentious and advisory proceedings.
He has been Mexico's ambassador to France and has served on the United Nations International Law Commission (2012-2022), where he was Special Rapporteur for the provisional application of treaties.
He is the author of numerous publications on legal and political issues and a book on the practice of the Security Council in the interpretation of international law (Tirant Lo Blanch, 2018).
The ICJ is the principal judicial organ of the United Nations with general jurisdiction, which allows it to rule on any issue of international law, whether in a contentious case or by giving advisory opinions.
The role of the ICJ is of the greatest importance in light of its proven performance in achieving peace between States through the judicial settlement of disputes. Today, Latin America and the Caribbean is one of the regions that turns to the ICJ the most, thus confirming the confidence that Latin Americans have in international law. The decision to nominate Dr. Gómez Robledo Verduzco was based on Mexico's interest in contributing to the court’s objectives.
Mexico has turned to the ICJ and to other bodies to defend the interests of its nationals who were facing criminal proceedings in various US jurisdictions, for example, in the 2003 case presented by Mexico against the United States for violating the Vienna Convention on Consular Relations. In the case concerning Avena and other Mexican nationals, the Court ruled in favor of Mexico, declaring that the sentences and penalties imposed in violation of the right to consular assistance must be reviewed and reconsidered.