October 2023 marked changes in the composition of the International Tribunal for the Law of the Sea (ITLOS), an international court that sits in Hamburg.
Tomas Heidar (Iceland) has been a Judge of the ITLOS since 2014, and served as Vice-President from 2020 until this week. On 2 October 2023, he was elected as President of ITLOS for a three-year term, until 2026. He succeed President Albert J. Hoffmann (South Africa).
President Heidar joins the list of Icelandic presidents of international courts and tribunals, including Thór Vilhjálmsson (President of the EFTA Court, 2000–2002), Páll Hreinsson (President of the EFTA Court, 2018-president), and Róbert Spanó (President of the European Court of Human Rights, 2020-2022).
More on the election of Tomas Heidar as President of the ITLOS is available here.