Xue Hanqin
Xue Hanqin was sworn in as a judge at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in Peace Palace, The Hague, Netherlands, on September 13. Born in Shanghai,China, she became the first female Chinese judge at the ICJ.
Accompanying her in the inauguration ceremony was Joan Donoghue, another newly appointed female judge from U.S. It is the first time for two female judges to take bench at the ICJ at the same time.
“More and more women nowadays join in the international institutions of justice, which marks the progress of our society,” said Xue. A graduate of the International Law School in Peking University in 1982, Xue continued her study at the School of Law of Columbia University and received her master’s in 1983.
From 1980 to 2003, Xue served in the Department of Treaty and Law of China’s Ministry of Foreign Affairs and eventually promoted to director-general of the department. During her tenure, she returned to Columbia University to get her doctorate in justice science. She later became the Chinese ambassador to the Netherlands and held the post until 2008. Then she was appointed first Chinese ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations.
The ICJ, the primary judicial organ of the United Nations, settles legal disputes submitted by states and gives advisory opinions on legal questions submitted by authorized international organs, agencies and the UN General Assembly.