The Lady Higgins | |
|---|---|
.jpg) Higgins at the International Court of Justice in 2006 | |
| President of the International Court of Justice | |
| In office 6 February 2006 – 6 February 2009 | |
| Preceded by | Shi Jiuyong |
| Succeeded by | Hisashi Owada |
| Personal details | |
| Born | Rosalyn C. Cohen (1937-06-02)2 June 1937 (age 88) |
| Nationality | British |
| Spouse | |
| Children | 2 |
| Alma mater | University of Cambridge Yale Law School |
| Occupation | Judge |
Rosalyn Cohen Higgins, Baroness Higgins,GBE, KC (born 2 June 1937)[1] is a British judge who is the former president of theInternational Court of Justice (ICJ). She was the first female judge elected to the ICJ, and was elected to a three-year term as its president in 2006.
Born to aJewish family in 1937 asRosalyn Cohen, she married the politicianTerence Higgins in 1961.[2] Her husband was created alife peer in 1997;[3] consequently, she becameBaroness Higgins.
Higgins studied atGirton College, Cambridge, receiving herBA degree in 1959 and anLLB degree in 1962. She was aHarkness Fellow between 1959 and 1961. She later proceeded to aMA degree. She continued her studies atYale Law School, earning aJSD degree in 1962.[4]
Following her education, Higgins was a practisingbarrister, and became aQueen's Counsel (QC; since 2022, KC) in 1986,[5] and is a bencher of theInner Temple. She served on the UN Human Rights Committee for 14 years. Her role as member of the leading body for supervising implementation of the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights earned her respect for her diligence and competence. She resigned from theHuman Rights Committee when she was elected to theInternational Court of Justice on 12 July 1995, re-elected on 6 February 2000, and ended her second term on 6 February 2009.
Her professional appointments include:
Higgins is the author of several influential works on international law, includingProblems and Process: International Law and How We Use It (1994). Despite delivering many balanced judgements in different cases, Higgins's dissenting opinion in the ICJ's advisory opinion on the Legality of the Threat or the Use of Nuclear Weapons has been widely criticised by some legal scholars, on the grounds that it provides sovereign states with an unjustifiable amount of latitude in resort to the use ofnuclear weapons in times of armed conflict.[6]
In October 2009, she was appointed adviser onInternational Law, to the British government'sinquiry into theIraq war, headed by SirJohn Chilcot.[7]
Higgins is a member of theInstitut de droit international. In 1995, she was appointed aDame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) "for services to international law",[8] and in the2019 New Year Honours promoted toDame Grand Cross of the same Order (GBE) "for services to International Law and Justice".[9] In 1988, she was appointed aKnight of the French Order of Academic Palms. Furthermore, in 2007 she was awarded theBalzan Prize for International Law since 1945.
Her competence has been recognised by many academic institutions, having received at least thirteenhonorary doctorates, as well as theYale Law School Award of Merit[4] and also theManley-O.-Hudson medal.
Dame Rosalyn Higgins, QC, President, International Court of Justice, 2006–09, 74
