Dear Editor,

I wish to applaud and congratulate the outstanding and globally esteemed Jamaican, the Honourable Justice Patrick Lipton Robinson, who has just been elected to the highest international and prestigious judicial body, the International Court of Justice.

This outstanding accomplishment is testimony of the excellent and remarkable contribution and experience which Justice Robinson has shared as an international lawyer and judge and the high respect and esteem in which he is held internationally.

A son of our soil, becoming the first Jamaican and Caricom national to be elected to this illustrious body, Justice Robinson has esteemed himself by his service to the country, region, the hemisphere, and the international community, and his outstanding career achievements are a reflection of the statesman and renowned legal and judicial luminary that he is.

He was the former president of the International Criminal Tribunal for the former Yugoslavia, a position he held between 2008 and 2011. He was first elected to the tribunal in 1998 and has been re-elected twice since. In 2004, he presided over the trial of Slobodan Milosevic, the former Yugoslav president, and the first former head of state to be tried for war crimes. He is the recipient of the national award, Order of Jamaica, awarded by the Government of Jamaica for services to international law and honorary doctoral degrees from the University of the West Indies, Jamaica, and the Christian Theological Seminary in Indianapolis. He is also a honorary membership of the American Society of International Law for 2011.

No doubt the entire country joins me in saluting this outstanding and historical accomplishment and wish for this eminent and highly acclaimed Jamaican the heartiest congratulations and continued success as he assumes his new role in the prestigious International Court of Justice.

Phillipa Lawrence

phillipa.lawrence@gmail.com