Julia Sebutinde, Vice President of the International Court of Justice (ICJ), faces allegations of plagiarism in her dissenting opinion on July 19, 2024, regarding the legal consequences of “Israel’s” practices in the occupied Palestinian territories.
In a post on the platform “X” (formerly Twitter), researcher Zachary Foster, who holds a PhD in Near Eastern Studies from Princeton University, accused Sebutinde of directly copying sections from a 2021 article by Douglas J. Feith, published by the Hudson Institute, without proper citation.
Foster claimed that Sebutinde (the Ugandan judge whose stance her country has since distanced itself from) lifted several sentences from Feith’s article, making only minor changes, particularly in sections discussing the historical usage of the term “Palestine.”
He emphasized that Feith’s article was not cited as a source in Sebutinde’s dissenting opinion, calling for her removal from her position at the ICJ due to the plagiarism.
A First in ICJ History
Sergey Vasiliev, a professor of international criminal law at the Open University of the Netherlands, described this incident as “unprecedented in the history of the International Court of Justice.”
He added, “If such plagiarism were discovered in a student’s thesis, the exams would have been nullified, and the student barred from further attempts.”
Sebutinde currently holds a sensitive position at the ICJ following the resignation of its president, Nawaf Salam, who was tasked with forming a new government in Lebanon.
Sebutinde’s Stance on the Genocide Case
In the genocide case brought by South Africa against “Israel,” Judge Sebutinde voted on January 26, 2024, against all six points of the provisional measures requested by South Africa.
What drew further attention was that Israeli judge Aharon Barak voted in favor of South Africa on two points of the case, while Sebutinde opposed all of them.
She also rejected all three points of the additional provisional measures issued by the court on May 24, 2024.
Uganda later disavowed Judge Sebutinde’s stance, emphasizing that her opposition to all the provisional measures requested by South Africa to “prevent genocide” in Gaza did not reflect the country’s position.
ICJ Ruling on Genocide Prevention
The ICJ issued provisional measures on January 26, 2024, ordering “Israel” to take “measures to prevent acts of genocide against Palestinians and to improve the humanitarian situation in Gaza,” which has been under an Israeli blockade for over 17 years. However, “Tel Aviv” has not complied with the court’s orders.
These measures, issued by the ICJ, the United Nations’ highest judicial body, came in response to a request from South Africa as part of a comprehensive lawsuit filed by Pretoria in late December 2023. The lawsuit accused “Tel Aviv” of “committing acts of genocide” in Gaza. Subsequently, countries including Turkey, Nicaragua, and Colombia submitted requests to join the case.
