Ghana’s Dr Sylvia Adusu sworn in as first African woman judge of ITLOS

Ghanaian jurist Dr Sylvia Ama Adusu has officially taken her seat on the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea, becoming the first African woman to serve as a judge on the international maritime court.

She was sworn in at a public sitting of the Tribunal in Hamburg, Germany, together with four other newly elected judges. Their nine-year terms began on October 1, 2026, and will run until 2035.

The other judges are George Rodrigo Bandeira Galindo of Brazil, Slim Laghmani of Tunisia, Lan-Anh Thi Nguyen of Vietnam and Bimal N. Patel of India.

During the ceremony, the five judges made the formal declaration required under Article 11 of the Tribunal’s Statute, pledging to perform their duties impartially and conscientiously.

Dr Adusu’s entry onto the bench follows her election in June 2026 at the 36th Meeting of States Parties to the United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea.

She received 130 votes out of 169 cast at the meeting held at the United Nations Headquarters in New York. Her candidature had been put forward by Ghana and endorsed by the African Union.

Her election marked a major milestone for African representation on the Tribunal, as she became the first woman from the continent to be elected to ITLOS.

Dr Adusu brings more than 30 years of legal and international law experience to the role. She previously served as a Chief State Attorney and also headed the International Law Division of Ghana’s Office of the Attorney-General and Ministry of Justice.

She holds a PhD in International Law from Lancaster University in the United Kingdom. Her research examined maritime delimitation and the conservation of marine resources under UNCLOS, with particular attention to cooperation over resources in the Gulf of Guinea.

Her career has also included direct involvement in some of Ghana’s most significant international maritime cases.

She was part of Ghana’s legal team in the “ARA Libertad” case involving Ghana and Argentina before ITLOS and later served as counsel in Ghana’s maritime boundary dispute with Côte d’Ivoire. She was also a member of Ghana’s maritime boundary negotiating team.

The Ghana-Côte d’Ivoire dispute, which concerned the delimitation of the two countries’ maritime boundary in the Atlantic Ocean, was ultimately determined by ITLOS in 2017.

Beyond maritime disputes, Dr Adusu has represented Ghana in other international legal proceedings, including matters before the International Court of Justice relating to the request for an advisory opinion on climate change.

ITLOS was established under the 1982 United Nations Convention on the Law of the Sea and hears disputes involving the interpretation and application of the Convention.

Its jurisdiction covers matters including maritime boundaries, navigation, marine environmental protection, scientific research and the conservation and management of marine resources.

Dr Adusu’s swearing-in places a Ghanaian jurist at the heart of one of the world’s most important judicial institutions dealing with international maritime law.