Professor Dapo Akande has been elected as a judge to the International Court of Justice (ICJ), the UK government announced on 3 November 2026. According to the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office, he received support from a majority of UN Member States and will serve for the next 9 years, ending a period of almost a decade without a UK judge on the court.

The government described the election as reflecting the UK's commitment to the international rule of law. Prime Minister Andy Burnham said the result showed the UK was "back on the world stage," while Foreign Secretary Ed Miliband praised Akande's legal expertise and independence. Akande said he was deeply honoured and pledged to decide cases on the basis of a faithful and impartial application of the law.

Akande is a Professor of Public International Law and a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, and an elected member of the UN International Law Commission. Originally qualified as a lawyer in Nigeria, he has nearly three decades of experience as a scholar and practitioner and has acted as counsel, adviser and expert in cases before international courts and tribunals, including the ICJ.